Nth Degree : Fateless
by dracohawk13
Summary: The corrupted grail, in its greed, begins to siphon power from other dimensions to sustain itself, even going so far as to summon the spirits of seven heroic spirits from their own realities... -Contains Crossover characters and spoilers-
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following characters, materials or plot, only the creative arrangement of the aformentioned.  
_

_ The plot and characters of Fate as well as those of any other series referenced here are the property of their respective owners.  
_

The corrupted grail, in its greed, begins to siphon power from other dimensions to sustain itself, even going so far as to summon the spirits of seven heroic spirits from their own realities. But the corruption of Angra Mainyu continues to worsen, and it's not just heroes that are fair game, but anyone with an existence strong enough to feed the ritual. In an event with infinite parallel paths, this time the chaos will be absolute.

Nth Degree : Fateless

_Time to escape _

_The clutches of a name _

_No this is not a game _

_It's just a new beginning_

_I don't believe in fate _

_But the bottom line it's time to pay _

_You know you've got it coming_

_This Is War_

_[30 Seconds to Mars - Escape]  
_

**Prologue**

This is it.

The guy's spear is pointed directly at my heart.

I know this…

This is the smell of death I felt just a few hours ago.

"…I don't get it. You're sharp, but you seem to suck at magic. You may have talent, but it's too late to make anything of it now."

My mind is focused only on the weapon in front of me.

It's only natural.

Because I'll die when that thing is thrust.

So everything else is gone from my mind. What else can I think about now that things have ended up like this?

"It's odd, but maybe you were meant to be the seventh. Well, it's better for you this way if that's the case."

The guy's arm moves.

The movement I couldn't even see before looks like it's in slow-motion now.

…This is bullshit. I can't accept this. I can't just die here meaninglessly.

I was saved. Saved! I can't die so easily!

I have to live and fulfill my obligations. If I die, I can't do that.

It pisses me off.

It's ridiculous to kill someone that easily.

It's ridiculous for me to die so easily.

Dying twice in one day, that's ridiculous as well.

Damn, everything is so screwed up that I can't contain it all and…

"DAMN IT-!" I shout out.

A blinding light erupts from behind me. The man falters and steps back.

"What the-?"

Despite my situation, I turn and look. My mind stops.

The figure who appeared is a girl.

Sparks fly twice as in a flurry of motion the spearman is forced to deflect heavy blows from the newcomer.

The guy backpeddles away, a blur of steel swiping through the air where he had been an instant before.

"Gah!"

He must have realized he is at a disadvantage, as he jumps out of the shed with his unnatural speed.

While keeping her a guard up against the spearman with the blade in her hand, she turns to me.

The clouds drift and the moon appears for a brief moment.

The silver light that shines into the shed lights up the girl in knightly form. Silver armour glinted brightly, overlaying a blue skirt.

Hair hung down to her back and heavily to one side of her fringe, blood red, its significance lost on me but striking nevertheless.

"…"

I'm speechless.

Not because I'm confused by the sudden turn of events.

I'm at a loss for words because of this girl's heavy presence, and overwhelming beauty.

The girl stares at me with bright brown eyes, then smiles lightly. I completely freeze up.

"I ask of you. Are you my Master?" She asks in a valiant voice.

Earlier that day...

Rin's heart was in her mouth as she approached the wreckage of her living room.

She didn't understand what had gone wrong. She had waited until the optimal time, the peak of her power, performed the ritual flawlessly, had used an unaffiliated catalyst... maybe that was it actually.

Maybe heroic spirits weren't meant to be summoned without an appropriate catalyst.  
Groaning as she saw the mess that had been made of the room from her spell running amock, she almost turned away to fetch a room to tidy up, face burning with shame at her failure.

Then he appeared. Clambering out of the wreckage, brushing himself off, was a man.

"A-are you my servant..?" Rin asked cautiously.

The man didn't answer, standing up straight, adjusting rectangular rimmed glasses on his face and walking over quietly.

He wore a coat of white, decorated with blue crosses, and his black blue tinged hair lay flat on his head, with two long bangs framing his stern face.

"You must be my master then," he finally spoke. His tone told her he was less than impressed.  
"Tch." He frowned back at the debris of the once orderly living room.

Rin's hackles went up. "Hey, it's not my fault! I did everything by the book, look!" She shows him the command seals on the back of her hand. "I summoned you, didn't I?"

The frown didn't leave his face as he turned his direct attention to her again.  
"Yes. I can feel the link all right, but I'm fairly sure summonings aren't this... destructive.  
Rin could feel her blood boiling. Clearly he could see this, as he shrugged it off.

"Nevertheless, servant Archer, at your disposal." He gave a slight bow and flourish, clearly meaning to make a good impression.  
He was probably less than enthused by her startled reaction.

"A-a-archer?" She stammered. No! Even after this disaster, she still didn't get the servant she was hoping for.

He sighed. "Yes, master. Am I not what you were expecting?" He asked, more than a little bit put out.

"Well, no, but..."

Archer waved it off. "No matter. Even if you planned for someone else, we can work around that. Besides, I'm sure I'll surprise you." He smirked slightly. "After all, I'm no pushover either."

Rin found that hard to believe. After all, servants summoned for the holy grail war are nothing less than monsters. Heroes of their time they may be, but amplified by their legends and summoned as spirits they're entities with power rivalling that of miracles. To summon not only a weaker servant but one with a combat style so utterly opposed to her expectations is to invite an early death.

She had, after all, been hoping for a Saber, the knight of the sword who would be practically unmatched in close combat, with resistance magecraft to boot.

Still, Archer is one of the knight classes. Maybe he'll surprise her. He'd better surprise her.

Or we're both dead, she thought darkly.

Oblivious to the thoughts whirling around in my head, Archer speaks up again.

"First things first."  
She perks up. Does he mean to start already?  
"Let's get this mess cleaned up."

Half an hour later, Rin's sitting at her kitchen table sipping tea, Archer sitting at the other side calmly, his white coat now spotless. Despite being a servant, he proved to be a surprisingly eager helper, and though it wouldn't have been the first thing on her mind they had already pretty much completed the repairs to the living room. And he didn't make a bad cup of tea either.

Of course, she was now down several lesser gems she really rather she hadn't used... but Archer had the chance to witness her magecraft first hand, so now he has a good idea of what he's working with. It was going to take a while for Rin to get used to the notion of having an Archer as a servant, but she expected it would stay awkward until their first combat where she could see what he could do. So best get that out of the way soon, but cautiously.

"Master, I can't help but notice the way you cast your spells," he tentatively spoke, stirring his own untouched tea with a small smile on his face as though he found something funny but wasn't willing to share it.

"Oh? Is there something wrong with my skill?" Rin asked sarcasticly, but genuinely curious to what he was getting at.

"They're in german."  
She blinks. That's not the response she was expecting.

"Yeah, your point?"

"Well it's not quite so surprising to me now that you summoned me. My ancestry is after all German. Though I'm still not sure that parallel is fair to draw."

She sits up straight. Is he going to reveal his identity? A heroic spirit's real name is a source of both power and weakness for them, as it could help her better understand and efficiently co-operate with her servant just as easily as it could provide the knowledge of a weakness from their legend that the enemy could exploit.

Now is perhaps the best time to learn it. Throwing caution to the wind, she pre-empts him.

"Archer, what's your real name."

He frowns slightly. He seems to be thinking.

"I... there's not really much point in telling you."

"What? Why?" She demands. She's suddenly very aware of the command seals on her hand.

_Patience Rin, only a rank amateur would waste a command seal on something so small so quickly._

Archer groans and puts a hand to his head.

"Master, as a servant I receive relevant information from the grail upon my summoning. But there's a number of issues here I should probably address now."

He makes direct eye contact, all traces of whatever hidden humor he had before now gone behind a serious front.

"First is that I am not at all familiar with this country. In fact, I'm not really familiar with this world as a whole. There are several glaring differences, but I'm not going to get into that now.

The important part is that this is not the world I lived in. Giving you my name now would prove no advantage, but I'm still not sure there would be no downside."

"Hang on, are you saying you're from a different world? That can't be right!"

He arches an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Th grail summons servants from straight out of legends, you're suggesting it's reaching into other worlds, other dimensions instead?"

"It's supposedly an omnipotent device that summons seven different divine spirits for a gladitorial contest where the winner gets any wish they want granted and you're questioning it messing with reality?" He sounded amused.

Rin pouts slightly. When he puts it like that, it's not quite so ridiculous after all.

"Wait, just what do you mean 'supposedly'..."

"...I've learned the hard way to never take things at face value. Just because some ancient beings would have you believe something, doesn't make it true." He said darkly.

"Then there's the other problem. The grail is supposed to summon seven servants for seven masters, giving each a shot at the grail in order to have their wish granted. But it's meant to select people who need it the most.  
...I have no wish."

Rin's eyes widen. "What?"

"So master, I must ask you now. What is your wish?"

"I... I don't have one." She frowned.

Rin wanted to win the grail for the sake of winning it. For her family, not for herself. She never had a wish to begin with. Archer's words were making eerie sense.

Archer stood up. "That's enough to be thinking about for now. If you will allow, I think it best to familiarize myself with the area before this war really gets underway. Who knows, I may get the chance to show you my skills tonight. It's easier to understand if you see it with your own eyes." He smiled wryly.

Shaking her confusion off, she stood too. "Ah. I was just about to suggest the same thing."  
Walking to the door, she glanced back at him.  
"We'll do some reconnaissance tonight. No heavy fighting. If things get messy, we'll pull out."

Astralizing behind her as she walked out the door, Archer answered, "Affirmative."

A week before that...

Kirei Kotomine frowned. He was not upset by the pool of blood at his feet, anymore than he was upset by the severed arm in his hand, the dying woman sprawled across the floor, or even the feeble whimpers she was making as she slowly suffered away.

No. The fake priest was more concerned by the servant standing ten feet away, the one who had literally just been summoned by the same woman who was now missing a limb.

Brown hair and deep blue eyes, the servant was a boy who couldn't have been yet out of his teens. He wore what looked like the bare bones of a school uniform, a white shirt and black trousers, and overall looked as plain and unassuming as could be possible.

Two things betrayed that. The first was his reaction, or lack thereof, to his master's death. Granted, he had not yet even had the chance to solidify a contract with the woman, but his withdrawn expression and arm folded across his chest and clutching his side suggested that he was much more introverted and concerned for himself.

But his eyes belied even that. They were filled with such a deep and profound sorrow even before Kotomine had struck at his master. What was one more drop of pain in an ocean of suffering?

Deny it as he might, Kotomine enjoyed every second of it. This boy's mere presence was enough to satiate even the fake priest's blasphemous desire for the pain of others. However, the servant himself was an anomaly, and Kotomine had not caused that pain himself. The fact that his malicious act had barely registered against whatever it was that had caused this suffering was something that was annoying Kotomine on a fundamental level. And this was not the hound of ulster.

Bazett Fraga McRemitz, an enforcer from the mages association and the summoner of this servant, she had meant to summon her idol. Kotomine knew this, and while it was far from impossible that she'd fail to do so, he could not help but feel surprised by this outcome. Moreover, he could not understand how this could be a heroic spirit.

Stoicly transferring the command seals from the severed appendage to his left hand with the incantation learned from his father ten years ago, Kirei addressed the spirit in front of him.

"Your summoner is no longer a master. What will you do? Will you form a new contract with me as your master?" Kotomine entoned quietly.

The servant said nothing, standing there quietly.

"Or will you fade away?"

The boy remained still, but Kotomine could see him flinch in his eyes, something striking home.

"..."

A strange servant indeed.

Two days before...

The man smiled. His summoning had been successful, and the grail had provided him with a servant. He was somewhat dissapointed though, as he had been hoping for a woman. The chance to dominate the will of a powerful woman was something he would have jumped at, but his chances at winning the grail were surely greater with a man. After all, he could always wish for such upon obtaining the grail...

His name was Wendell Lowe, a lesser magus from the clocktower. Although the association had been wary about this war, what with it begin fifty years too early and considering the clusterfuck the previous war had been, and had sent an enforcer this time with the intent to moderate it more closely before making any decisions, Wendell had decided to jump ship and try his hand at it anyway.

He was used to being ignored, but sick of the way his associated treated him just because his magic was so limited. He'd show them. He'd show them all.

Smiling widely, he lifted his arm to show his command seals to the servant before him.

"Hear me servant! I am your master!"

The man before him, shrouded in dust from the dissipating maelstrom of the summoning ceremony, lifted his head. Black blue hair tied in a ponytail swayed ominously, the man clad in a camo patterned shirt, a green jacket and cargo pants, black boots and gloves, made eye contact with his master.

Despite himself, Wendell shivered. One eye a cold blue, tilted slightly in his chilling smile that suggested he found something deeply humorous about this situation, held his attention for only an instant. It was his right eye, blood red with what looked like the kanji for the number six instead of a pupil, that had him unnerved.

The man loosed a bizarre chuckle, lifting a hand to his brow.

"Oh? Is that so? Well then, what is your intention, my master?" He drawled. Wendell missed the intonation of the word "master" at the end.

"I intend," Wendell spoke when he could finally unstick his jaw, "to win the grail."

Regaining his confidence, he spoke louder. "And you, my servant, will claim it for me. What is your name?"

That chuckle again. "That is hardly of consequence. My class, however, is that of Caster."

Wendell frowned at the disrespect but shrugged it of in favor of a stinging comment.

"Caster? A shame, to have summoned the weakest of the classes."

Caster's eyes flashed dangerously, but Wendell paid no heed.

"Very well. This can be worked around. Here me, servant! My command is law, you will do as I say and we will annihilate the other masters, then leave their servants to fade away with no source of power. You will wait in the shadows and let them pick each other off, then strike when they are at their weakest and leave none alive."

By now, Wendell was practically frothing at the mouth from excitement. Only absently did he notice the soft glow of a ring on Caster's finger.

"Ah, well, there is a slight flaw in your plan, master."

Wendell faltered. "And what is that?"

That chuckle again...

Searing pain filled his senses. In agony, Wendell craned his neck to see the weapon embedded in his back, three prongs piercing his flesh.

In front of him, the image of Caster that had stood there slowly faded away, while the servant was now clearly standing behind him, having impaled him with what appeared to be a trident.

"It isn't I who will be doing the fighting you see." Caster spoke, no longer able to contain the mirth and venom from leaking out in his tone in equal measure.

Caster's red eye glowed ominously, the kanji holding Wendell's gaze.

In horror he could only stare as control was wrenched away from him.

"It's you."

Hours before...

Shirou couldn't help but feel a little guilty walking home this late. Even if he himself wasn't particularly concerned, both his underclassman and close friend Sakura and his homeroom teacher Fujimura Taiga had warned him about being out after dark.

Over the past few days numerous reports on the news of strange deaths and even stranger attacks in the Fuyuki area were making people nervous. Granted none of them had been particularly close to his home, but he could understand the concern.

Groups of people were being found passed out in their homes, alive but nonetheless completely unconscious. The reporters were blaming gas leaks, but some people were being found in a similar state out on the street, just passed out on the pavement. The circumstances were different but the result was the same.

Weirder still were the deaths.

A lot of people were suddenly dropping dead of seemingly natural causes or bizarre accidents, and not just in Fuyuki either.

What was weird was that no matter how many pictures he saw of the latest victims, he couldn't seem to empthize with them. For Shirou, someone who thoroughly believed in the righteous path of a hero that he'd inherited from his foster father, it felt weird that he didn't feel sorry for these victims.

The obvious reason would be that they all seemed to be bad people, but surely even they didn't deserve to be dealt such a cruel hand by fate so suddenly... right? Moreover, this was all assuming there was something in common between them, when they were clearly unrelated. In fact, the only thing that linked all these deaths was how there were so many happening in such typical ways.

Between the supposed gas, the random deaths and the general panic they were causing, people were being advised to stay off the streets at night and lock up their homes. Yet here Shirou was, walking home in the dark, because he'd stubbornly gone to his part time job. He didn't even particularly need the money, it just felt good to help out. He felt a little guilty for indulging his own desire to help people over following his friend's advice. After all, they were just worried about him.

Passing the back of his school, he heard a loud crashing sound, pausing in surprise, he glanced in the direction it came from. Nothing was there but the empty schoolyard, so he shrugged it off and made to continue on his way until there was another crashing sound. Then another. Then a cacophany of clanging sounds. Pausing again, before he could consider what he'd heard there was a blur of motion over the school roof.

It was several minutes before Shirou's mind could process what exactly he was seeing.

From over the room came bounding a man in a white coat, a bright blue spiderweb shaped construct of light in his hand, the other held back as if drawing a bow. Following after him came a shorter person, a boy in somewhat normal clothes but with an enormous crimson two pronged spear in his hands, angled low and threateningly.

The white one sharply pulled his back hand, bringing with it a trail of blue, and a burst of light shot from the front at high speed at the spearman. Dodging nimbly, he continued to advance. Unperturbed, the white one loosed several more glowing projectiles, which shattered tiles as they flew past their target whose agility rendered the attacks futile.

The white man scoffed, then as the spearman got close he vanished, reapparing startlingly much closer to Shirou in the yard on the ground, bow aimed high. Drawing his arm back again, this time he loosed a stream of projectiles, too many to count and much faster than before. The spearman spun his weapon, bobbed and weaved around the spectral arrows, deflecting those that got too close, and surging down the side of the building. The moment he touched the ground, he erupted forward in startling display of speed spear thrusting forward.

Unconcerned, the white man grabbed a metallic tube from his belt with his free hand and swung it to meet the thrust. With a hiss, a blade of blue light burst forth from the end of the tube, and clashed with the center of the pronger spear, holding it back.

The spearman glared and began to force the weapon back, when suddenly the white man vanished again as before, this time reappearing on the roof behind him, where another person had appeared. From where he stood, Shirou could not make out the third figure other than the fact that they looked familiar. It briefly occured to him that he should probably run before they noticed him. If those two were anything to go by, these people meant serious business, and they were willing to kill. What's more, from how they fought they could seriously be magi, and if they discovered him he'd be in serious shit.

That moment of hesitation where he tried to discern the third figure cost him dearly.

From his place on the roof next to his master, Archer surveyed his opponent. The last exchange had made their relative strengths clear. While this his opponent was physically stronger than him up close, as well as much more agile, Archer was overall faster thanks to his speed technique. He was also more than capable of fending off an attack up close long enough to widen the gap once more.

Their respective noble phantasms, however... while Archer was confident he could nail the servant faster than he could react if he upped the ante, that red spear was still an unknown element. And if his suspicion was correct, no amount of research would yeild any information about it either.

It was probably wisest to withdraw now and call it a night. His master had seen what he could do, they'd encountered another servant and seen him fight, he'd memorized the feel of his prana so he could find him again at any time with his superior sensing ability and revealing any more tonight would be foolish. They never knew who might be watching.

Speaking of which, while still engaged in his staring contest with the non too conversational servant below, Archer briefly checked the immediate area with his spiritual senses. He could notice another servant before they were close enough to notice him, of that he was sure, and in this way he could prevent conflict with another servant if he didn't have to.

If Assassin was around he wasn't confident he would detect him, but he would definitely notice if said servant went on the attack as his presence concealment dropped. However, it wouldn't do to let any other servants get the drop on them. Familiars he would mostly ignore, since he wasn't giving much away, and if he detected any masters from their link with their servant he would have to notify Rin and act accordingly.

Sensing neither masters nor other servants, he returned to the matter at hand. Well, he would have, if something hadn't been bothering him slightly. Tentatively, he checked again, and froze. Glancing slightly up, he spotted him. On the far side of the yard, by the gates stood a boy. Possibly a magus, by the feel of him, but definitely no master. A civilian. And he had seen them. His gaping expression confirmed that much.

Unfortunately, the other servant noticed his gaze, and glanced back.

"Ah." The servant finally spoke. "this is a problem."

The boy bolted, sprinting down the street.

The servant shot after him.

"Archer!" Rin shouted.

"I know." Archer grabbed his master by the waist and leapt to the ground in pursuit. He dared not go too fast while carrying her for fear of harming his comparably fragile master. People weren't built to withstand that kind of force, magus or not.

Archer grit his teeth.

This was a grievous oversight on his part and he knew it.

"Crap crap crap crap crap-" Shirou sped down the road in a panic. No-one was around, no-one could see him and a madman with a weapon was chasing him.  
Before his frantic mind could even properly catch up with his situation enough to decide what to do next short of running away as fast as he could, the spearman was in front of him once again, having leapt an unnatural distance over him smoothly.

Shirou ground to a halt, freezing up in fear. This just isn't fair...

"Sorry," the spearman murmered quietly, "but my master made it very clear. No witnesses."

A twisted look on his face, he levelled the spear... And ran him through.

"Agh!" Shirou sat bolt upright, hyperventilating. He was sprawled on the street, no sign of anyone else around.

"Wha... how?" Reflexively checking his chest he confirmed that was was indeed missing the additional pair of ventilation shafts to his lungs that he had been expecting. However, his shirt was torn where those prongs had surely been.

"...The... hell?"  
Standing shakily to his feet, he noticed something lying on the ground. Stooping to pick it up, he held it out in front of himself.

"A pendant?" He asked no-one in particular.  
Suddenly very aware of how exposed he still was, he pocketed the item and began jogging quickly back to his home.

"...Master..?"

"Don't talk to me!"

Rin paced around her kitchen in frustration. Not only had that idiot shown up at the worst possible time, but he'd gone and nearly got himself killed! Worse, she had wasted years worth of stored energy in the gem of a priceless family heirloom to revive him, and then in her embarrassed rush to get home while trying to ignore the inevitable scolding from her servant she had gone and left it behind by mistake!

"...Master..."

"I said don't!"

Archer was going to reprimand her for not only saving a witness, but also failing to modify his memory, something that was strictly against the rules of the war.  
But what was she supposed to do damn it? If he didn't remember that his idiocy had nearly made him bite the big one, then when he got up again he'd simply return to casually wandering around at night like that!

Rin was close to pulling out her hair and Archer was getting annoyed.

"MASTER."

"WHAT?" She shouted.

"Exactly what do you think Lancer will do when he discovers the witness he tried to dispose of has survived?"

Silence.

Rin shot back out the door.

Rolling his eyes, Archer followed his whimsical master.

Shirou had finally reached the safety of his home in relief, when not even ten feet down the path to his front door the bounded field triggered a warning in his head.

This bounded field, set up by his adopted father long ago, was only meant to detect one thing.

When someone with harmful intentions had entered.

"You're surprisingly hard to kill."

Breathing heavily, Rin ran straight towards where she knew the idiot lived. But even if she could keep this pace up, it would be ten minutes at best before she got there. He could be dead by then, heck he could be dead by now!

Yelping in an undignified manner, Rin was scooped up by her servant who took to the rooftops.

"Some warning would be nice!"

"Apologies, but I was under the impression that time is of the essence."

Rin blinked owlishly, then turned her head away, red faced.

"Yeah. Just hurry. It would be a shame to have wasted that effort for nothing."

Shirou flew bodily into his workshop, the worn doors giving way under the force and dust flying everywhere. Skidding to a halt over a faded old circle on the floor, Shirou groaned, looking at the metal poster in his hand - the only thing tough enough he could find to reinforce in a vain attempt to stave off certain death.

It was shorn off at the middle. It had offered little to no resistance against that distorted spear.

Dropping the remains of the useless weapon, he frantically swept his gaze over the other things in the shed, looking for something, anything, that could help.

It was far too late for that. The spearman advanced through the frame, standing on the broken wooden remains of what used to be a door.

"I don't get it."

He levelled his weapon.

Blinding light.

"I ask of you. Are you my master?"


	2. Chapter 1

(A/N: There were minor formatting errors with the prologue due to importing page breaks that didn't show up anymore. While it wasn't significant enough to warrant modifying the chapter, from this point onwards such formatting will be done directly to the submitted file.

Another issue was a surprising amount of grammatical and spelling errors. It's clear I've become more reliant on spell check than I'd admit, but discovering that the word processor I was using didn't have such a basic feature was surprising.

I don't mind some of my grammar seeming a bit odd (so long as it's not outright wrong), but basic spelling errors are poor form, so I've switched programs and re-read through it properly. That isn't to say there won't be any errors any more, but there should be significantly fewer.

Other than that, the level of positive response received so quickly was pretty unexpected considering this is my first properly posted story.)

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following characters, materials or plot, only the creative arrangement of the aformentioned.  
_

_ The plot and characters of Fate as well as those of any other series referenced here are the property of their respective owners._

**DAY 1 PART 1**

Shirou always liked to think of himself as a good natured mannerly sort of person.

Despite this he sat weakly on the ground, openly gaping at the woman in front of him, lips flapping like a fish out of water with no sound coming out.

"A servant..?" The spearman asked tentatively, keeping a good distance from the shed and warily eyeing the sword in her hand. A blade typical of a knight, but too short and wide to be considered a longsword.

Despite having directly struck the spear, its edge still shone with a smooth unblemished sheen. The most noticeable thing about it was its cross-guard that resembled a pair of wings.

Glancing from her opponent to Shirou and back again, the woman calmly approached the shed with a flourish of her weapon.

"Introductions will have to wait, it seems."

Stopping out of reach of the deadly spear, she confidently sank into a combat stance.

"So let me ask of you then - Lancer I assume? - Were you intending to kill my master- no, this boy, before he had even become a part of this war?"

The now identified Lancer seemed somewhat put-off by this. He straightened out of his stance and frowned, his free arm wrapped around his waist.

"I don't understand what you're asking, but if it's about killing that guy there I already did."

"….."

"He definitely died, but I didn't do a good enough job it seems."  
"Is that so..." Her voice now held a dangerous edge to it, coiled like a spring; ready to leap forward at any moment.

"...Sorry." Lancer spoke quietly.

The woman hesitated.

"I'm not doing this because I want to. I can't go against my master's order."

Silence reigned for a few moments, before the woman sighed and stretched.

"Very well, we're still at odds though so let's get this started."

Pointing her weapon at her opponent she declared, "Servant Saber, at your service. Let's have a good clean fight."

Lancer blinked, then grasped his weapon with both hands once again.

"S-saber, huh? R-right," he stammered, leaving a still confused Shirou to wonder just what had suddenly got under his skin.

"Ummm... Excuse me...?" Shirou stiffly and slowly stepped towards the pair, attempting to get their attention and find out just what the hell is going on. All the while his mind was screaming at him to keep quiet and keep out of the way if he didn't want to get killed again.

As it turns out, he needn't have worried. Because neither self labeled "servants" paid any attention to his objection whatsoever.

Lunging forward, the woman who called herself Saber took the first swing; it was easily deflected by Lancer's own sweep.

He immediately tried to take advantage of his superior reach by stabbing forward, but just as quickly his strike was knocked aside and he barely had time to deflect another deft slash.

Saber was a maelstrom of steel and air, striking rapidly and fiercely, so much so that Lancer was slowly being driven back by the sheer force of her assault.

Sweeping the sword aside long enough to leap backwards safely, Lancer gained himself some breathing room. He still looked surprised and unnerved by the ferocity of his opponent.

"What's wrong Lancer? Don't hold back on my account!" Saber casually remarked, sticking to the spot and waiting for him to make the first move this time.

Lancer look bewildered for a moment, then shook himself and began to advance.

"Fine," he ground out, levelling his spear with both hands again. His mana intensified until the very air around the combatants shifted in response.

With no further warning, he lunged.

Flashes of red were all Shirou could see of Lancer's movements now, as he darted back and forth and thrust at Saber's defences, circling like an angry wolf.

Agile and responsive, every counter Saber tried to pull off was rolled under, jumped over, sidestepped or swatted away, while every blow she deflected from the angry red spear made the blade in her hand shake violently, a crack visible on one side.

Grunting after blocking a direct stab at her torso by clashing her sword with the middle of the prongs, she was very nearly disarmed by a twist of the spear before she could yank it out and retaliated with a stab of her own. Unfortunately, this time she actually was disarmed - her sword was struck by the spear once more, and the blade outright shattered.

Eyes wide, Saber hovered in place as Lancer lunged in for the kill.  
Shirou tried to shout out, but his throat and long since dried up in fright and all that came out was a feeble croak.

His surprise was matched only by Lancer's own when instead of trying to get away, Saber twisted to the side. In a deft blur of speed she snatched the spear's shaft with one hand and yanked it towards her, discarding her ruined weapon as she did so.

"Wha-?" Lancer choked out, before a steel covered fist cracked straight into his face. The blow sent him sprawling backwards, his weapon clattering to the ground.

Sitting up clutching his nose angrily, he glared at the offending redhead, who now was holding his spear, examining it curiously.

"A good weapon you've got here, Lancer," she commented, spinning it skilfully in one hand, "Clearly no second rate blade will be able to stop something as potent as this. You almost got me with it too."

Then, casually, she tossed it back to him.

Snatching it out of the air, he now regarded her with an incredulous expression.

But before he could voice or act on his confusion, Saber spoke again.

"Putting a single lower quality weapon up against that one would be foolish."

The ruined sword and its fragments on the grass shone then faded away.

"So I won't use one."

…...

Saber's mana spiked, armour lighting up like the sun, particles of light dancing around.

In all but an instant the flash faded away - and she had changed.

In place of her armour was a new set, sporting four enormous silver steel wings, a vast flamboyant and armoured dress replacing the blue skirt, and with heavier steel gauntlets, boots and shoulder guards decorated with the same odd wings as the much more impressive looking two swords now in her hands.

Even her hair style had changed somewhat, with a white headband sporting another pair of wings.

Despite all this, Shirou's hand flew to his nose to suppress a threatening nosebleed, and had to fight not to look away from the ongoing battle, because that chest piece... barely covered anything.

Clearly Lancer had noticed this too, as after his initial surprise and caution he displayed at the change, he had gone scarlet and seemed to be having the same problem Shirou was.

Oblivious to their plight, Saber made her move.

"Prepare yourself Lancer!"

She shot towards him like a bat out of hell. Lancer fumbled with his weapon and prepared to intercept, but he was not prepared for what came next.

"Heavens wheel! Blumenblatt!"

Several flashes lit up around her, a dozen swords of similar style appearing out of nowhere – then propelling themselves straight at Lancer, much faster than Saber herself.

Despite his shock, Lancer swiftly retreated deflecting and dodging as he went, trying to move out of Saber's way. However, despite her feet not touching the ground, Saber changed direction to follow him effortlessly, appearing to float somewhat, possibly as a result of that odd armour, Shirou thought.

Summoning yet more blades, Saber swept her held weapons around her in a circle and they began to rapidly rotate.

"Dance, my blades!" She lunged.

Lancer was forced to bob, duke and weave around the wreath of death, all the while parrying Saber's held blades and struggling to find an opening to exploit. As he dived to one side hoping to get a better angle, Saber then followed up her attack.

"Circle sword!" Slashing back at Lancer, the ring of deadly blades spun away from her and into their target. Unable to dodge in time, he instead held up a hand as though to ward them away.

A series of clanging noises rang out, and every one of Saber's blades spun to the ground save for the two in her hands. Pausing, she regarded Lancer with a critical eye.

"...Barrier..?"

Lancer stood still in the spot he'd almost been caught, hand still outstretched. From the space in front of it blossomed a fluctuating translucent hexagonal field of pulsating light.

"Ah... I shouldn't have used this yet."

He lowered his hand, and the field dissipated.

"But I guess it's alright... if I just kill you."  
All traces of embarrassment and insecurity that he'd been displaying earlier were gone now, leaving in its place a cold stare from his blue eyes. He widened his stance and the spear in his hand began to glow a bloody red.

"Saber!" Shirou finally managed to shout out, attracting the swordswoman's attention.

"That thing's dangerous, get away!"

The mere sight of the aura it was giving off now was enough to make the student shudder.

Having been stabbed by it once, he could attest to it being a deadly weapon, but something about it was nagging him in his mind. Something about its form and function, but he couldn't possibly know that...

In spite of his vague warning, Saber took him seriously, settling back into a defensive stance instead of pressing the attack, blades crossed in a guard.

The searing red illuminated the yard, as Lancer pulled his arm back over his shoulder.

In that instant, Shirou realized what he intended to do. Saber was already one step ahead of him.

"Lancea-" as Lancer swung his arm with all his strength Saber had already begun to move, shifting smoothly and slowly with the motion of Lancer's swing.

"Longini!"

Hurled straight like a crimson bolt of fury, the spear shot across the clearing in far less time than should have been possible. Saber nearly stopped it dead with a frighteningly heavy blow from both weapons to give her time to completely dodge the projectile. As if in slow motion, the sparks flying from the impact of the three weapons intensified as the spear itself warped and twisted into a corkscrew shape – then punched right through both blades and Saber's shoulder plate, smashing off an entire armoured wing before impacting with the wall behind her and going right through that too in a shower of concrete.

Saber looked from the wall to Lancer, eyes wide.

"Woah..."

Lancer looked angry. Very, very angry.

Drawing in a deep breath, he let it out again slowly.

"It's alright." He said, half to himself as Saber regarded him curiously and now with far more caution than before.

"You weren't given any instructions for what to do if the enemy survives your noble phantasm... so you can just retreat now."

Relaxing somewhat, he made eye contact with Saber.

"Sorry Saber, but I'm gonna call it a day. You see, my master's somewhat of a coward and I didn't really want to fight anyone in the first place."

In a flash the spear- no, the lance, was back in his hands and with a spin he stabbed it into the ground where it faded away once more.

"Can we call it a draw for now?"

Saber cocked her head slightly, glancing at Shirou briefly before answering.

"That seems agreeable. Very well, however..." Her mana spiked once again, and Shirou could swear she was almost glowing as crimson as that lance had been moments before.

"If you do something so low as to attack a bystander or a non master again, let alone my master, you will be sorry."

Lancer held up his hands in surrender.

"Sorry, but I can't promise that. My master even used a command seal to make sure I did what he wanted, even though he just treats me like a glorified hunting dog." He spat bitterly.

"I can try, but you're probably going to have to step up again if you want to stop me."

"No problem." Saber replied with no hesitation at all. "You don't have to tell me that."

Inclining his head slightly, Lancer faded away.

Striding back over to Shirou confidently, her armour momentarily flashing and returning to its original state, she cheerfully addressed him.

"Well met, Master. I am servant Saber and I will be your sword and your shield for the duration of this war. I hope we can get along."

She extended a hand. Shirou stood rooted to the spot for a whole minute before he managed to lift an arm to take her hand.

"O-ok... I don't know exactly what's going on... but I'm not your master."

"Hm?" Saber tilted her head questioningly, and Shirou had to avert his gaze as his face began to match his hair.

"What I mean is... you should call me Shirou."

A broad grin split Saber's face in understanding, and she began to shake his hand vigorously.

"Of course! Yes, Shirou, a good name it is too."

Shirou winced, he could swear he felt all the bones in his wrist cracking.

"In that case, my name is Erza Scarlet. Nice to make your acquaintance."

"Wait- Erza? Not Saber?"

Erza stopped abruptly.

"...Did I say something wrong-?"

"Master- No, Shirou. Another servant approaches. I'm going to head them off."  
Erza dropped his hand and sprinted across the yard, clearing it in an instant, and leaping over the wall.

"WAIT!" Shirou yelped, and too his surprise, the moment his voice rang out Erza snatched out at the top of the wall with one hand and spun back around to land crouched on it, looking at him.

"Yes?"

Shirou had not been expecting that and hesitated, before managing to ground out, "don't hurt anyone. Please."

To his surprise, Erza nodded curtly, then leapt away. Taking a moment to identify a possible weapon from his violated workshop for if there were any more crazy people around the corner, Shirou took off after her.

* * *

Scouting ahead of Rin, Archer scowled from his place on the rooftop.

"Master," he called back to her, "Lancer appears to be retreating. Should I follow him?"

Rin sprinted along the pavement, gasping for breath at having run the whole way. Reinforcement or not, she was not used to such continuous exertion. Or having to fret like this. He was gonna pay all right...

"No. Focus on the idiot, is he still there? Still alive?"

"Yes. Though there's a complication."

"Compl-? What now?"

In a blur of red and silver, a figure rocketed over the roof straight towards Archer.

"The servant kind." Archer complained, vanishing and reappearing on ground level just beside his master, bow already materialized and firing a volley of luminous projectiles.

Undeterred by the fire-power, the newcomer forged on, a pair of long swords slashing from side to side deflecting every shot they could not dodge.

Landing in a low stance on the ground, both servants took a moment to assess one another.

"Saber, I presume?" Archer groaned. This was the worst servant for him to take on so close to his master.

"Of course." Saber smiled, standing up straight, armour glistening in the moonlight.

"And you must be Archer."

Rather than answer, Archer merely scoffed and knocked another shot, taking aim silently.

Rin had taken the opportunity to gain some distance from the conflict, not quite willing to go ahead yet but still focused on her original goal.

Her support was no use here either. The Saber class was known for its magic resistance, and even the caster class would have serious trouble getting though that... so she substantially less chance.

Then the servants attacked. Saber ran straight at Archer, who back peddled somewhat slowly compared to his earlier movements, while unleashing a stream of projectiles.

Dancing through in a storm of strikes, Saber got right up next to him and swung at his glowing bow.

Rather than try to dodge, Archer's hand had gone straight to his belt; and returned with an odd metal tube.  
With a snap and a hiss, a blade of blue extended from the end of the makeshift handle, and with it he blocked Saber's blow, skidding backwards from the force of the blow.

Saber was relentless, striking repeatedly, all blows aimed at disarming or destroying Archer's weapons, and he slowly lost ground until he was scarcely a few feet in front of Rin who stood frozen in shock.

His eyes flickered back briefly to check on his master, but that was all it took.  
Saber suddenly let up and retreated back a few steps, scowling somewhat.

Archer blinked in surprise, before considering just snatching Rin up and getting out of there.

"Archer," Saber warned in a loud voice, "were you seriously intending on fighting me while trying to cover for her?" She jabbed a thumb towards Rin, who squawked in protest.

"That's pretty insulting to me you know." Saber shook her head in disapproval.

Archer scoffed. "Are you telling me you wouldn't take the chance to off a master when presented with one?" His sarcastic tone indicated he certainly didn't believe so.

Saber's swords flashed then vanished, and she crossed her arms.

"It's not a matter of whether I would or not, although for the record I would not be so low as to assault a helpless individual.

As it stands, I've been asked not to hurt anyone."

Rin, who up till now had held her tongue, spluttered incoherently.

"You've been what now? What kind of naïve moron would-"

"Wait!" Shirou skidded around the corner, coming to a halt just behind Saber.

"Oh. Good, no-one's hurt."

Both masters made eye contact.

….

"Eh? Tohsaka?"

Rin palmed her face.

* * *

The air felt heavy with tension as Shirou sat at his table, with none other than the class idol Rin Tohsaka sitting opposite giving him the evil eye.

Beside him sat Erza, who was calmly and happily sipping tea, and opposite her was the much more uptight Archer who was still staring at her suspiciously.

Rin was furiously muttering something that sounded like "..can't believe... you of all people... managed... summon a servant..."

"Alright," Shirou testily began, grimly aware of Tohsaka's withering glare, "so let me get this straight... You're a magus."

Rin nodded.

"And you two are spirits of heroes who died."

Erza and Archer nodded.

"And you've been summoned, by me and Tohsaka here, to compete in a free for all seven versus seven death match to obtain the holy grail."

All three nodded.

"Right. LIKE HELL I GET IT!" Shirou brought his fists down on the table.

Archer raised an eyebrow, Rin glared dangerously, Erza continued to drink tea.

First off, even assuming I believe all this nonsense, how could I just spontaneously summon her?" He pointed at the unshakeable redhead next to him.

"No offence," he added placatingly, to which she merely nodded calmly.

Rin, who up till now had been alternating between glaring holes in Shirou's head and contemplating showing Lancer just how murder was done, now grudgingly softened, frowning.

"Archer, check that shed out back and see what's there that could have caused this."

Archer stood brusquely. "Of course, master."

He vanished abruptly, making Shirou jump and completely unaffected Erza.

"Where'd he go?"

Rin twitched at his reaction.

"Look," Rin spat, barely controlling her anger, "it doesn't matter whether you believe me or not, or even how you got involved. If you want to survive, you're going to have to understand just what it is you're in for. And if you just want out, then I'm going to have to take you to the church."

Leaning forward on her arms she pulled at her lower lip in annoyance.

"Actually, I probably have to take you to the church either way..."

"Hold on, back up. What's this about the church?"

"The church, being neutral towards this whole thing but usually despising magi in general, appoint a supervisor for the war that happens every sixty years. Though the last war was actually ten years ago."

Shirou stiffened. "War..? Ten years? This wouldn't have anything to do with the Fuyuki fire would it?"

Rin hesitated, seeing his expression, but then nodded in affirmation.

Shirou's head lowered. "I see... and all this fighting for something that's supposed to be a divine artifact..."

"Well, not exactly. You see the 'holy grail' in this war isn't the 'real' grail. Though it might as well be. I mean an omnipotent wish granting device? You don't get more powerful an artifact than that."

Dimly, Archer's warning words rang in her head, but she swatted them aside. There would be time and opportunity to investigate that later.

As though summoned by her thoughts, Archer reappeared beside her, this time making Rin jump and Shirou merely blink.

"There was an old summoning circle drawn in the shed. It's likely that the presence of command seals and a spark of mana triggered a grail assisted ritual, imperfect as it is. No sign of any possible catalyst though. This situation could be similar to mine."

Shirou's head spun as he tried to take in the details.

"Command... seals?"

Rin raised her right hand, indicating the red pattern on the back.

Snatching up his own, he looked at the bandages he had wrapped around it when he had begun to bleed the other night while preparing dinner. He'd thought it the result of an accidental cut, but...

Unwrapping it revealed a similar red pattern.

"...Son of a-"

"Emiya." Rin ground out. "You need to come with me."

She stood. "I'll take you as far as the church. After that, whether you decide to participate or give up your right as master and seek sanctuary, you're on your own."

Shirou stood unsteadily."What do you mean?"  
"Hasn't it sunk in yet? If you go ahead with this war, we're enemies Shirou. ENEMIES. Only one master and servant combination can claim the grail. That means all the other servants have to be killed."

Shirou looked sceptical.

"Moreover, you're too naïve! Masters provide mana for servants to subsist off, allowing them to stay materialized and to function properly. Therefore, the easiest way to kill off a servant, who is the embodiment of a heroic spirit, is to get rid of the master."

With ever sentence, Rin advanced around the table on Shirou, jabbing a finger into his chest until he was backed up against the wall, hands raised in surrender.

"Well they shouldn't," Shirou, "I'm sure you wouldn't, and I know Erza-"

Rin jolted as if electrocuted.

"Don't tell me your servant's name! This is exactly what I'm talking about..." She rubbed her temple in frustration.

"Do you get it? You were lucky to survive the first attempt on your life, if you continue to participate it most certainly won't be the last."

"...First?" Shirou stammered, connecting the dots in his head.

"Just come on. I'll take you to meet the fake priest and we can get this over with." She stomped out the door, Archer following close behind, pausing only to shrug sympathetically at Shirou.

Erza finally stood, leaving her empty teacup on the table.

"She seems nice." She commented cheerfully.

Before they could leave Shirou's home, a problem presented itself.

"Hang on, Tohsaka, we can't go out like this."

"What are you talking about?" She snapped impatiently.

"Well isn't Erza kind of... conspicuous?"

Beside him the tall redhead was stretching, still in her initial armour set.

Rin sighed. "She can just astralize. Archer has. He's right next to me."

"Really? Wow." Shirou looked all around her but couldn't see or feel anything.

Archer, invisible to Shirou, twitched slightly. "Are you really ok with this master..?"

"Not like we have any choice," Rin shot back with a short glance.

"I can't hear him either?"

"Shirou, if the problem is my apparel, that's easily solved."

Shirou spun back around to find Erza right up in his face.

"Gah! Don't do that..." Shirou stumbled away.

With a flash, her armour dissipated leaving in its place a white blouse, and replacing her boots with blue sandals.

"W-was she wearing that under the armour...?" Rin muttered.

Ignoring the unintended question, Erza addressed Shirou again.

"Like this should be fine, right? This way I can walk with you no problem."

Shirou blinked owlishly.

"What about other servants and masters? Won't they know when they see you?"

She shrugged. "Astralizing won't prevent a servant from being detected unless they have presence concealment like the Assassin class."

Shirou bit back the question about classes for the moment. Rin spoke up before he could consider it either.

"Archer says if that's what you want to do it's fine. His sensory range is pretty impressive by servants standards, so he'll be able to give us early warning if we're approached by another servant or even a potential master before they could detect us. Well, with the probable exception of assassin..."

"... It sounds like this assassin class could be a problem then."

Erza smirked. "All the more reason for me to remain manifested close to the both of you. It's highly unlikely assassin would risk his skin trying to catch me off guard. Assassins are stealthy, but they're at a severe disadvantage directly against other servants."

Rin scowled at her. "Now hang on, don't you hang too close to me, how do I know you're not going to take the opportunity to get rid of a possible opponent?"

Erza gave her a deadpan stare.

"Oh right," Rin put her hand to her chin, " honourable knight class and all that..."

* * *

It wasn't long before the three of them trudged along in a wary procession, with Archer hovering around invisible somewhere close by.

"So Shirou," Erza attempted to strike up a conversation, "what's this Fuyuki fire you mentioned before?"

Shirou visibly winced, and Rin furtively cast him a concerned look before determinedly looking away pretending not to listen.

Seeing his reaction, Erza cursed lightly. "Never mind, I didn't realize it was a bad subject-"

"No, it's fine." Shirou interrupted.

Erza watched him carefully as they walked, but his expression was now schooled into an impassive mask. Odd, considering from what she'd seen Shirou was the type of person to wear his heart on his sleeve. Much like her former comrades, actually.

"Ten years ago, there was a terrible fire in a vastly populated area of this city which is now known as Fuyuki park. Nearly every person caught in that inferno was killed, including my family."

Erza's breath caught. "I'm so sorry..."

Shirou forced a smile. "Don't worry about it. As you can see, there was one survivor from that hell. Now I can barely remember it. The shock must have hit me hard then, because I couldn't remember my parents, my life, or even my name."

"...That's horrible..." Erza quietly mumbled. Some of this was sounding eerily familiar to her.

Despite herself, Rin was now openly looking at Shirou with a sympathetic expression, though he didn't seem to notice.

"So what happened? How did you survive?" Erza asked.

"I was saved." Shirou said simply.

Before Erza could press for more details, Rin's head shot up to the side as though listening.

"Look alive people, the church is just up this hill. Archer says there are no servants around, but that could easily change." With that, Rin forged ahead up the hill, Shirou speeding up to catch up with her and Erza easily keeping pace.

When they reached the entrance to the church, Rin turned to the pair behind her.

"Right then, Shirou with me. Saber stay out here with Archer." With that, she marched in through the enormous doors.

Shirou glanced at Erza who nodded the affirmative.

"Be careful in there Shirou, this place is giving me a bad feeling."

"I feel it too. So you need to be careful as well."

Erza looked surprised for only a moment before laughing heartily.

"I shall take the utmost care, but don't be long or I'm coming in after you."

Shirou's humor picked up considerably and he jogged after Rin with a smile on his face.

* * *

_Servant Profile_

Saber

True Name - Erza Scarlet

Alignment - Lawful Good

Base stats:

Strength - B  
Endurance - B  
Agility - C  
Mana - C  
Luck - D

_Class skills_

Magic Resistance - B  
Riding - C

_Personal Skills_

Battle Mage* - A  
Charisma - C  
Instinct - B  
Swordsmanship** - A

*Battle Mage - Erza, as with many of her comrades, is a mage who uses magic exclusively for direct combat. As a result, as a servant she can cast every spell

she could in her previous life, and every single one serves to aid her fighting prowess. From instantly swapping out weapons and armour from her magic

armoury, to augmenting blows to the point that even just the air pressure from them can cut through steel, Erza is a master of battle magic.

**Swordsmanship - Erza almost exclusively uses swords to fight, and has experience fighting with thousands of different blades. As a result, her skill with this type of

weapon is of the highest tier, and she prefers using swords to fight over all else. However, she's no stranger to spears, staffs or even bare hands.

Any weapon Erza weilds effectively benefits from a rank up as she weilds it with phenomenal skill.

_Noble Phantasm_

Requip Armoury - E ~ A++

~Unknown~

* * *

~For added fun, re-read chapter whilst listening to the following themes as appropriate (by searching youtube or such)~

~Saber appears~ Fate Stay Night OST - Unmei no Yoru

~Lancer gets serious~ Fate Zero OST - The Battle is to the Strong

~Heavens Wheel armour~ Fairy Tail OST - Erza theme

~Lance of soaring death~ Fate Stay Night OST - Tenchi Hou Take

~Saber Vs Archer~ Fairy Tail OST - Invoke Magic

~Conference~ Fate Stay Night OST - Whirlpool of Fate

~On the move~ Fate Stay Night OST - Footsteps of Ruin


	3. Chapter 2

(A/N: Despite being on summer holidays now, my time has been almost completely blanketed by things that I hadn't realized would hit so hard this even at this time of year. As a result, this chapter has been sitting almost finished for quite a while now.  
While the quality isn't the best, and it's only been half-heartedly checked over, I'm reasonably happy to post it for two reasons.

1. To get it out of the way, so it's no longer on my mind annoying me.

2. The plot has pretty much been fully drafted out already, and I'm actually pretty happy with it. Not having done the best job of  
this particular chapter is not going to effect it particularly badly.

3. Despite starting much later than I intended to, this month is to be my "writing month". With a novel drafted out in a similar state to this story funnily enough, I've decided enough is enough and that I'm going to blitz it over this month so I can finally get down to proper stylistic editing.

Before I get any questions from the people I didn't expect to be reading this story that are reading this story, none of the above will effect updates to this story. If anything, it should speed them up, even if they are erratic.  
If I'm efficient, there should be another chapter up in the next few days, despite it not yet actually having been started on.  
The plot is there, and my writing speed is fairly quick. I just need the time.

For anyone who is actually still following this story, thank you for your patience, and be as critical as you like.  
I'm dropping the first proverbial bombshell in this chapter for those skeptical of crossovers, so reactions will be interesting to see.  
However rest assured, I'm damned sure of what I'm doing and why.  
Enjoy.)

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following characters, materials or plot, only the creative arrangement of the aformentioned.  
_

_ The plot and characters of Fate as well as those of any other series referenced here are the property of their respective owners._

**Day 1 Part 2**

"Shirou, watch what you say here. The priest may be the overseer for this war, but he's a real piece of work too. Don't say anything about SABER," she stressed the name, "and don't let him get inside your head. He'll go out of his way to tell the truth but in a way designed to get on your nerves. He's been my teacher for a long time, but all I've really learned is not to trust everything he says."

Shirou got the message. Don't reveal Erza's name or characteristics, and don't take everything he's told here at face value.

"I'm hurt Rin, though I can't complain too much. I wish you were a better student as much as you wish I were a better teacher."

From the altar a tall man walked between the pews towards them, in a dark blue coat over a black suit, and with brown hair and eyes. A crucifix hanging from his neck was the only telling sign on him of his occupation. And his eyes... were cold and calculating.

No wonder Tohsaka had called him a 'fake priest'. Shirou repressed a shudder.

"And who might this be?" He asked amicably, for a moment displaying the kind of nicety that one might expect from a parish priest. Shirou did not buy it for a second.

Even if Rin had not told him beforehand, he would have found it hard to trust anything about this man. In fact, he was finding it very hard not to back away from him. His whole presence felt... wrong.

Rin however appeared unphased by all of this, though if her heavy scowl was any indication she was not happy to be here either.

"Shirou, this is Kirei Kotomine, my guardian and overseer of the fifth holy grail war."

The priest blinked in surprise at her casual reference to the war.

"Fake priest, this is Shirou Emiya-"

"You really shouldn't call me that," Kirei mumbled, then straightened abruptly, "Emiya..?"

"-the summoner of Saber and the seventh master." Rin finished, ignoring Kirei entirely.

Shirou however was now deeply unnerved by the look the man was casting him, a wry smile spreading across his face as though he'd just discovered a long forgotten Christmas present.

Shirou gulped.

"You need to inform him of the rules of the war, as well as inform him of how to back out if he wishes. I'll be blunt – he's a novice that managed to summon a servant completely by mistake. If he goes ahead with this war there's a high probability he'll be cannon fodder in less than a day."

Despite Rin's scathing appraisal, she left out the part about him having died already... with a heroic effort. Rin, not Shirou.

Kirei, still smiling sinisterly, now addressed Shirou directly.

"I see. Very well then. How much do you already know?"  
"...Just that this is a war for a powerful artifact referred to as the grail, fought by servants who are the embodiment of heroic spirits, and masters with command seals that control them, and that the winner gets to have a wish granted by the grail."

Kirei nodded. "Well, that is the gist of it. But there is more to it than that."

He began to pace, clearly enjoying the chance to lecture him. Rin groaned in the background.

"Firstly, there are seven servant classes, and only one of each is summoned in each war for a total of seven distinctly different servants. Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker. Each have their own particular attributes and advantages. As a master, you should be able to see a servant's basic capabilities when confronting them, though how you see this differs from person to person."

Shirou nodded slowly, though he had experienced no such thing... something to try later then.

"Next is the command seals. Each master starts with three. Each seal allows you to issue a single irrefutable order to a servant, powerful enough not only to bend their wills but also to bend the laws of physics to comply. However these should be used sparingly, if at all."

"What do you mean?"

It was not Kirei, but Rin who replied. "Because they're not only invaluable for getting out of a pinch against another servant or master, but when all three are used up you lose your link with your servant."

Shirou's eyes widened in understanding.

"That is correct." Kirei continued. "And a servant cannot subsist in this world without a source of mana, which will be cut off in the event of all the seals being used up, or... in the event of a master's death..." he trailed off, looking pointedly amused.

Shirou's gaze hardened.

Ignoring his reaction, Kirei elaborated. "Actually, killing a master is inheritantly much easier than killing a servant. So that tends to happen a lot. Not that doing so is without its disadvantages mind you. Some servants can survive even days without a master to fuel them, and in the case of a master without a servant and a servant without a master-"

"A new contract can be formed." Rin interrupted.

Kirei frowned at his student's lack of manners, but waved it off in favour of finishing up.

"In the end, a servant is required anyway, and only one can be left, so killing the other servants is in a master's best interest. Only a servant can touch the grail, and they too will have a wish granted. It is why they participate in the first place."

Shirou stiffened. The thought that Erza might want the grail herself had never crossed his mind. Now he felt somewhat concerned about what it is she might want, and badly enough to participate in this war.

"So the question is, knowing all of this what will you do?" Kirei pressed.

"If you decide you don't want to fight, you can forfeit your command seals and I will grant you sanctuary here until the end of the war."

If Shirou were unsure before, he was steadfast now. His own reasons aside, he had no intention of deliberately spending too much time with this fake priest, whatever the cost.

"No. I will fight. If only to make sure no-one gets hurt unnecessarily, and that no-one with bad intentions claims the grail. But before I go, answer me this."

"Go on."

"Do you know anything about the last war and its connection to the Fuyuki fire?"

Silence reigned, then the sides of Kirei's lips curled up in a smirk.

If that is all, you may leave now. I have sermons to plan and you've taken enough of my time."

Shirou's eyes narrowed, but before he could say any more Rin put a hand on his shoulder.

"No, that will be all. Come on Shirou." She dragged him away and back out the door.

Before they were quite out of earshot, Kirei got in one last jibe.

"Rejoice, Shirou Emiya, for your wish will finally be granted."

The doors shut between them.

* * *

Trudging away from the church towards where Erza was waiting, Shirou growled.

"He's hiding something, I know it."

"Let it go Emiya. Better try to interrogate a poisonous snake that to pry information from Kirei when he doesn't want to give it."

Shirou took a deep breath and let it back out heavily. Even if he wouldn't admit it, that meeting had rattled him more than he'd like.

"How was it? Did you learn what you needed to learn?" Erza questioned.

"Yeah... yeah, I think I did."

"And?"

Realizing what she was looking for, he looked her square in the eyes.  
"I will fight. If only to protect anyone uninvolved from getting hurt anymore, and to prevent avoidable deaths. I don't really care about getting the grail, but I guess if you need it I'll try my best to..." He trailed off as he realized Erza was now giving him a death glare, her aura spiking dangerously.

"Wait!" He shook his hands out placatingly, "I really will try my best to help you win, I promise!"  
"Do you really think so little of me," Erza growled, her tone making even Rin step back white faced, Archer materializing in front of her protectively, "that I would put such a petty thing above my comrades?"

Shirou's frantic search for what had offended her halted. As did his brain.

"...Huh?"

"Shirou Emiya, if you must insist on ignoring the formalized ranking of master over servant, by no means are you to reverse it. You are my equal, no more and no less, and you will ACT LIKE IT! Am I understood?"  
"Y-yes ma'am!" Shirou managed in shock.

Saber glared.

"Ah, I mean understood."

The oppressive aura receded as Erza ran a hand through her hair, schooling her expression once more to a neutral smile. Rin let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, and Archer relaxed somewhat.

"I'm glad we could come to an understanding. And for the record, I couldn't care less about some silly wish."

Archer's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, as he exchanged a furtive look with Rin.

"...Really?" Shirou asked incredulously.

"Of course!" Erza replied naturally. "If you want something, earn it with your own hands.

You should never go begging favours like that, and regret is something that lets you live and learn."

There was no trace of doubt in her voice, and Shirou could not help but be awed.

"If a person could just use something so convenient for their own gain, to fix their mistakes, even to help someone else it would undermine what it means to be human.

In any case, I have no particular desire for a wish. My life has been lived, and for now I am content with the opportunity to meet and match wits and skills with interesting people."

Rin blanched somewhat at Saber's description of heroic spirits as merely "interesting people", but was more concerned with a more pressing matter.

"If you have no wish, and your master has no wish, what are you going to do?"

Saber chuckled. "Well that's obvious. This is a tournament I have been entered in, so naturally I will fight until the end. But if you're expecting me to treat this as a death match then you're sorely mistaken."

With a flourish, she jabbed a finger in Rin's direction. "I will do it my way, and no-one will have to die. Not if I have anything to say about it."

Returning a hand to her chin thoughtfully, she continued.

"The only exception will be us servants, since we're not strictly alive anymore, and are more than willing to fight till the end. Even then, my ideal win would be a situation where every servant gave their all before exhausting their strength so they could fade away with no regrets."

Putting a hand on Shirou's shoulder, she asked, "does that sound agreeable to you Shirou?"

Shirou's jaw had dropped further than he knew it could go.  
This was it. There was no doubt in his mind. This was the hero of justice he wanted to become.

"...Yeah." He breathed.

Rin scowled heavily at Shirou for a moment, but he didn't seem to notice.

"...In any case, I will take my leave now."

Shirou snapped out of his reverie. "Pardon?"

"I agreed to help you until you'd been registered as a master at the church. Now that's done, from this point onward we're enemies in this war."

Shirou looked crestfallen, and rather than face him Rin turned away and began to walk off.

"But good luck," she managed to say in an offhand tone, "and try not to die. Again."

The sound of laughter made her pause mid-step.

"You know Tohsaka, you're not a bad person. I really like people like you."

At this point, Rin's hold over her composure crumbled, and she whirled around.

"W-what are you saying, y-you idiot!" She stumbled over her words, now completely flustered.

Archer adjusted his glasses and sighed. It looked to him like the day's series of events had finally begun to overwhelm her social façade.

Rather than continue to sputter incoherently, Archer gently took her by the shoulders and steered her away down the road. "Come along master, it's been a long day and some rest now would be for the best." He coaxed.

Without looking back, he addressed the other two. "Good night, Emiya. You should head home swiftly if you don't want any more trouble tonight. And I look forward to meeting you again, Saber."

Saber didn't reply, but smiled lightly.

* * *

It was a few minutes before Rin had managed to regain her composure, and when it seemed she was calm once again Archer, now astralized once more, decided to raise his issue.

"Master, was it really wise to push them away?"

Rin did not answer right away, quietly thinking to herself.

"It... was necessary. If we continue to fight in this war we would have become enemies eventually. Teaming up with another contender just gives them a chance to turn on us."

Archer gave her a deadpan expression, and she scowled.

"Alright, fine," she waved it off, "they probably wouldn't have. Especially if what Saber said is true. I may not be sure about her, but Emiya doesn't even know the meaning of deceit. It would never even occur to him to lie to someone, and he'd likely be terrible at it anyway. But that doesn't change the fact that they've decided to participate. If anything, our best option right now is to keep them at a distance while we identify the other servants and their masters. At least we know that Saber will go for you first, and you can retreat quickly if there's a problem. Keeping them around right now would draw too much attention to ourselves. Those two don't know the meaning of 'subtle'."

"Be that as it may," Archer slowly said, "even ignoring your total lack of faith in my ability to win in a straight fight-"

Rin had the sense to look away in shame here, red faced.

"-you're missing a few key issues."  
Rin scoffed. "Well then, why don't you enlighten me?"

Archer adjusted his glasses again and began.

"First is the fact that the very basis for this war is in question."

Rin jerked slightly as she caught his eye, and sobered up upon seeing his expression.

"What do you mean..?"  
"We now know that two out of seven servants, Saber's honesty permitting, have no wish for the grail. In a system designed to summon servants with a wish to be granted in a ritual of this scale something that should be a given being in question makes the likelihood of this whole thing being genuine somewhat more doubtful... I've already explained my reasons for being sceptical of this allegedly all powerful artifact. I know you probably don't want to hear this, but between the out of place servants and the disaster at the end of the previous war we've got to consider that the grail might be-"

"-Some kind of monkeys' paw." Rin finished darkly. "Crap, I hadn't thought of that before... And Saber is out of place too..?" She trailed off.

"Yes. The information available to me from the grail confirms it. Thought I'm loathe to trust it at all, the fact is it doesn't look like Saber is from this world either."

Rin stopped walking, mind spinning at the possibilities. "We're going to need to start investigating as soon as possible. I don't want-" her breath caught for a moment, "-something like that to happen again. Not to anyone."

Archer didn't ask. It was obvious she meant the result of the previous war.

"Moreover, there's the issue of the other servants. Investigating them is all well and good, but what happens if we get in over our heads? Can we really afford to alienate Saber as a potential ally?"

Before Rin could reply, Archer jerked, turning to gaze back the way they'd come from.  
"Master... a servant is approaching the church."

Rin's eyes widened.

"Is their master with them..?"  
Archer focused for a moment. "Yes. And that servant feels like a seething mass of mana too... could be Berserker. Master, they're approaching Saber and Emiya. At this rate they'll run headlong into each other."

Rin hesitated. "Archer," she took a deep breath. "Assessment."

Archer raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"I'm not an idiot," Rin bit out quickly, "I'm sure you know what I want to do, but I've been overly confident in my own judgement till now..." She begrudgingly looked away.

"...Very well. I advise we move to assist immediately."

Rin's head shot up in shock.

"It would be very foolish to abandon the possibility of an alliance with the strongest of servants, particularly in a situation where we can gather intelligence on another competitor with a reduced level of risk."

Moving to pick her up, he added, "also, I don't like to admit it but I don't want them to get hurt either... I think my previous friends' stubborn sentimentalism has rubbed off on me." He muttered.

"Hold on tight, we're going to move fast."

* * *

Shirou and Erza made their way back down the road away from the church in silence.

Normally Shirou would strike up casual conversation in such a situation, but by now his fatigue was

catching up with him, and his mind still hurt from all the unbelievable revelations dropped on him in such a short period of time.

Luckily, Erza seemed to sense something of this, and contentedly matched his stride without fuss and with a cheerful expression once again.

Shaking himself off somewhat, he set to thinking of the best way to strike up a conversation with his new partner, but before he could think of anything meaningful to say, she stopped in her tracks, putting an arm out to force him to do the same.

"..Er- Saber?" Shirou stumbled over the correct name, noticing her serious expression.

"Hello, big brother."

Slowly walking towards them appeared to be a young girl, long pale whit hair matching a white winter coat, and red eyes twinkling mischievously. Behind her radiated an intense killing intent.

Shirou did not appear to notice.

"Oh, hello there? Are you lost?"

The girl's face fell, dark smile faltering.

"Wha- no, I-"

Shirou leaned down to her head level looking concerned.

"Well we can't have that! A girl of your age wandering the streets at this time of night isn't safe you know."

"It isn't- I'm not even-!" The girl was now completely flustered.

"Shirou." Erza spoke up reluctantly. "…She's a master. Her servant is here."

Silence reigned for a moment as Shirou gave Erza a puzzled look while the girl took the chance to compose herself once more.

"Her? Are you sure? I mean, she's just a-"

"My name," the girl ground out, all pretense of friendliness gone, "is Illyasviel Von Einzburn."

From behind her a menacing figure shimmered into existence, killing intent now stifling even Shirou, who stepped back in alarm. In a flash Erza was back in her armor, sword at the ready.

"And I am NOT a child."

* * *

For the second time tonight Rin was running to the aid of her classmate. And she was livid about it.

"How far Archer?"

Archer momentarily matched pace with her. "Just up ahead. It feels like a fight is about to break out."

From the direction of the cemetery came an earth shattering blast, dust and stone leaping into the air.

"Over there!" Rin shouted and sprinted straight for it.

"Archer, go on ahead and give them support."

Archer looked hesitant.

"Are you sure..?"

"If you can't sense anyone in the area anyway I'll be fine. I can handle myself."

"…And Assassin?"

Rin faltered, but another shock wave rippled through the air and answered for her.

"I'll be fine. GO!"

"As you wish." Archer vanished in a blur.

Even so, Rin continued to run.

"Can't leave that idiot alone for a second. Ugh."

* * *

Erza's armor shattered. Skidding through the dirt at an angle away from Shirou, Erza eyed her opponent dubiously.

It was obviously Berserker, anyone could tell from the sheer malice the servant was radiating like a furnace. A heavy aura hung around him, and had easily deflected Erza's strikes as well as amplifying the servant's own. Through the haze of red it produced Erza could make out the features of a young man in cheerful clothes, blond hair in stark contrast with the blood red eyes it framed.

Berserker roared and charged again.

"Saber-!" Shirou yelped.

"Focus on the master, Shirou. Make sure she doesn't try anything."

Erza summoned a pair of great-swords, aiming with swift and heavy swings to cleave through the beast's defence.

Shirou glanced warily at the girl, but besides looking still incensed she did not seem to have any intention of acting herself.

"...Why are you doing this?" He asked.

The girl blinked in surprise.

"Isn't it obvious? I will win this war for the Einzbern family."  
Creepy smile returning, she continued, "and I will crush anyone who gets in my way."

Ignoring the blatant psyche out, Shirou pressed on.

"Then what is your wish?"

"Huh?" Illyasviel deadpanned.

"What will you wish for from the grail?"

"…..."

It did not appear that she had considered this far ahead, as she looked distinctly confused and thoughtful.

In the background Berserker had smashed one of Erza's weapons again and hurled her twenty feet into the air in the bargain. Shirou winced, but remained steadfast. As much as he wanted to help, this was the most he could do. She had asked him to deal with the master, and he felt it would be poor form on his part to ignore that just to go and get in the way. Still, if it got any worse over there, Shirou knew he wouldn't be able to restrain himself.

Having apparently come to a realization, the master in front of him had gone scarlet with embarrassment.

"N-n-none of your business!" She stumbled, stealing a glance back at her servant and avoiding Shirou's eye.

Steel flashed and splintered, as another pair of summoned blades were smashed apart by the raw force that was Berserker. Both servants blurred back and forth in a deadly dance of blades and claws, neither appearing to have the upper hand.

For every blow Berserker dealt, Erza deflected and countered. Not that she'd been able to land anything decisive either.

The crimson aura hung around him like a spectral cloak, and seemed not only to be defending him, but also slightly extending his reach.

Having somewhat regained her composure, the girl shouted at her servant.

"Berserker! Quit playing around and finish her off!"

Shirou would have laughed at the sheer childishness of her tone had it not contrasted so badly with what she was actually saying. But what he saw next caused him to freeze up.

Berserker, instead of dodging Erza's overhead strike with a two handed sword she had summoned at some point, caught it in one hand, blade first.

He tilted his head almost curiously at his master, then back to his opponent.

Red mana flared dangerously outward, the aura around him condensing into a heavier and thicker cloak, making it harder to see the servant within.

The red servant's killing intent spiked, then skyrocketed. Shirou was nearly floored merely by standing as close as he was, while Erza abandoned her weapon to put some distance between her and the monstrous aura.

Even the master before Shirou, despite smirking knowingly, looked distinctly uncomfortable.

Berserker tightened his grip, snapping the sword he held like a toothpick, steel clattering to the ground and dissipating.

Then he lifted his head, and howled.

Air blasted in all directions, disrupted by the servant's voice, and Shirou had to hold his arms up to shield himself from the gale. Moving surrepticiously, he placed himself between the girl and her servant, if only to shield her from the bits of debris spraying everywhere.

"Hey!" she shouted, voice lost in the din, "get out of the way, I can't see!"

Abruptly, Berserker stopped, dust settling around him, and Shirou noticing for the first time the swishing red tail of mana attached to the servant... with a second slowly forming.

Then he charged.

Saber weighed her options in an instant, choosing an armour and weapons from her armoury and beginning to requip them, when both servants were interrupted.

A volley of blue projectiles stormed down upon Berserker with deadly accuracy, scoring hits despite his tremendous speed.

Undeterred, he charged right through them, swinging at Saber as she was distracted.

Backpeddling while fumbling to requip fast enough, Saber was intercepted by a blur of white appearing next to her.

Archer, with his spectral bow raised, took a single overcharged shot at Berserker point blank, before hastily grabbing Saber and flickering out of sight once more, rematerializing a safe distance away.

"Thanks for the save," Saber stepped away from Archer, reconsidering her options now that it appeared help was at hand.

"Am I to assume you want to team up here..? Or does your canny master have some other motive?" She asked calmly, a wry smile forming despite the situation they were in.

"Actually, it was my idea." Saber blinked in surprise, as Archer adjusted his glasses.

"Anything else would have been a poor choice, but you can consider this an alliance of convenience."

Knocking another bolt of blue in his spiderwebbed bow, Archer sighed lightly, barely disguised humour in his tone.

"Though to be fair, my master was already itching to come back to help. I can't imagine why."  
Saber chuckled, settling on a loadout.

The dust kicked up from Archer's shot had all but settled by now, and Berserker was revealed within, turning to face them. Unharmed, and very, very pissed.

Archer scowled.  
"Great. You picked a fight with a real monster tonight, you know that? There are not many beings I can think of that could take a direct shot like that unscratched, and trust me when I say you wouldn't want to fight any of them."

"Oh I don't know about that..." Saber grinned, requiping into a set of black armour, with dark bat-like wings extending from the back, heavy shoulder guards and half a plate skirt, hair now up in a ponytail.

A curved blade was now in her hands, clearly substancially stronger than the fodder she'd been throwing around before.

Archer coughed and awkwardly averted his gaze, instead focusing on the servant stalking towards them murderously, in order to avoid dealing with the fact that despite the heavy armour on her limbs, Saber was now effectively sporting a black bikini.

Not that it wasn't difficult to ignore the snarling bundle of death that was now picking up the pace, until he was hurtling straight at them.

* * *

Shirou, in the meantime, was still stuck at the fact that Archer was back.  
He hadn't been expecting to see him again so soon, especially after Tohsaka-

Wait, Tohsaka?

Turning just in time, he balked at Rin sprinting straight for him.

"Get down!" She yelled, something glinting in her hand, her gaze focused on the other master.

"Now hold on-"  
Shirou was cut off as Rin snatched him by the hair and dragged him down with one hand, the other hurling a bundle of what appeared to be precious stones at the surprised white haired girl.

"Berserker!" She yelped.

There was a flash of red, then a popping sound, as Berserker vanished from where he'd been inches away from striking distance of the other two servants, then appeared between the glowing projectiles and his master.

Shirou, appalled and confused by Rin's actions, tried to get back up only to be pinned down by the Tohsaka heir, both lying flat out.

The reason immediately became apparent, as the gems she had thrown impacted with the red servant, who didn't bother avoiding them - and then they detonated. Violently.

Blinding light flared and dust blasted in all directions.  
Shirou lay still in mute shock. He'd thought Rin was a better magus than he, but hadn't realized just how much so until now.

"W-... Wow..." he breathed, as Rin clambered back to her feet, dragging him up too amidst the settling dust.

Rin was shooting a victorious smirk at her small opponent.  
"What's the matter, Einzburn?" She asked smugly. "Was that all you had?"  
In response, the white haired girl smiled slightly.  
"What are you talking about?"

A low growl echoed throughout the clearing, a wave of fear hitting both masters like a hammer.  
From the clearing dust emerged a crater, at the center of which stood Berserker. Completely unharmed.

Rin's face fell.  
"Impossible... no damage?"  
With a howl, Berserker moved.

"Archer!" Rin yelped.

A hail of blue arrows struck the beast in its side, slowing its advance. In the same instant, Saber touched down on the ground in front of Shirou, blade at the ready.

Practically unhindered by Archer's ranged assault, despite the shots being noticeably stronger than before, Berserker collided heavily with Saber, who skidded back several meters, blade barely holding her foe back.

Angling the block upwards, Saber forced Berserker's clawed attack to the ground, simulataneously taking to the air above him.  
Berserker struck the earth hard, splintering rock, his baleful eyes tracking Saber's ascent.

Before Saber could make another move, something burst forth from Berserker's back in her direction. What appeared to be a additional body, a leering face and grasping arms shot straight up.

Instead of trying to defend, she opted to attack the threat.

"Moon Glimpse!"  
Diving down, sword blurring in a pair of simultaneous slashes, the attacking body was rended in two, before she had to make quick use of her armour's wings to dodge to the side and avoid Berserker's follow up swipe.

Still gawking at the fight, Shirou barely registered Rin snatching him by the collar again and dragging him away.  
"Do it now Archer!"

Saber beat a hasty retreat from the snarling red servant, as Archer blurred into existence directly above it, bow at the ready, glowing fiercely with accumulating mana.

"Licht Regen!" He declared, unleashing a storm of heavily powered blue shots.

Thousands upon thousands of deadly projectiles rained down on Berserker, and this time he felt it.

Howling in pain, he was soon obscured beneath the barrage.  
"Berserker!" his master cried in concern, suddenly considerably more worried for her servant.

A burst of red drove back the last of Archer's attack, the servant thrashing for a few moments before falling still. Three red tails swished through the air.

Trying to hide her relief, the white haired girl snapped at her servant.  
"Enough playing around Berserker. Kill them all."

Berserker snarled, and flecks of black, red and blue shot from his now fully crimson body, eyes completely obscured behind white swirls.

The flecks rose into the air slowly, pulsating sinisterly, before converging toegether above his head, compressing into a large black ball, then further compressing to the size of a marble.

"Careful," Archer called out, "I'm detecting a massive buildup of mana."

Saber swiftly moved to intercept, but Archer appeared beside her and held out an arm.  
"Wait..." he cautioned. "If he drops that now, it'll probably be bad."  
Saber nodded and drifted back a little, curiously looking at how Archer seemed to be standing in mid air even though he was still in physical form.

Abruptly, Berserker extended its maw... and swallowed the ball.  
"...What was that supposed to achieve...?" Saber asked bewildered.

Berserker sank heavily to the ground, the mana now seemingly having enough mass to actually weigh him down.

Archer, whilst keeping an eye on the enemy master, analysed his opponent.  
"How does he expect to attack like that now?"

Now unable to move, the servant was glaring heatedly in Rin's direction, obviously intending to go for the pest that was easier to crush first.

Then he noticed a bulge in Berserker's throat, almost as if he was trying to regurgitate..

"Like that huh. Crap." He glanced back down at Rin before yelling out to her.

"Master, keep your head down, it's a projectile attack!"

"I've got this one," Saber dropped to the ground, interposing herself between the servant and both crouching masters.

With a flash, gone was her winged armour, and in its place was a full suit of heavy steel and blue plate armour, with what appeared to be half shields on her forearms and a samurai helmet on her head.

Berserker's entire head now looked like it was about to pop.

"Whatever you do, stay behind me." Saber ordered quietly.  
"But-" Shirou bit out in concern.  
"That wasn't a question Shirou."

Raising her arms out in front, Saber clamped the arms together to form a full shield. A magic circle sprang to life around her, and a faint barrier coalesced.

"Here it comes!" Archer called out, while carefully calculating the pros and cons of taking a shot at the master.

Berserker spat.

A crimson beam of raw power surged forth, colliding heavily with Saber's barrier. The landscape was blasted aside, only the spot that Saber protected was sheltered from destruction, but not by much.

Shirou winced as the heat of the blast seared through the air close to his head.  
Saber held her ground, but the barrier began to crack.

Gritting her teeth, she leaned into the beam, feet inching back through the dirt.

Inevitably, the barrier shattered, and the blast struck Saber's shield head on.

Shirou's senses were overwhelmed, blinded by light and ears ringing harshly from the deafening roar of Berserker's merciless assault.

Eventually, the mana began to dissipate. The entire area around the combatents was more or less levelled in the shape of the beam that had passed, though it had petered out somewhat beyond the point that Saber still stood, shield cracked and crumbling, armour dropping off in chunks, breathing heavily.

Shirou scrambled to his feet, Rin quick behind him.

"Er- Saber!" He ran over to her as a flash signalled her armour changing once again, switching back to her default breastplate setup.

"Are you alright?"

She gave a pained smile.  
"Do not worry, I've had worse. The Adamanine armour is my strongest defense, but it is still armour."

Shirou blinked, eyes widening in realization. "Then..."

"Yes. While the barrier was able to completely defend me for some time, blocking that blast with the armour itself was only as effective as the state of the armour."

She straightened up, having recovered somewhat.  
"The more damage the armour took, the less it could prevent from reaching me. Luckily this is not my first experience with that kind of attack- look out!"

Saber snatched Shirou by the arm, and before he could object, hurled him bodily away to the side.

Shirou could only blink in shock for an instant before he was rolling through the dirt, catching a glimpse of Berserker slamming headlong into Saber, who had a pair of swords to hand once again.

Groaning as he got back to his feet, he watched as Saber was driven back with no opportunity to counter as Berserker did his level best to take her head off with vicious swipes that sent shockwaves rippling through the air.

"Idiot," Shirou winced as Rin clouted him over the head, revealing that she'd joined him while he'd been distracted.  
"Don't approach a servants battle so carelessly."

Shirou looked confused by her annoyed tone, but quickly returned focus to his outmatched servant.  
"How is she supposed to beat that monster?"  
Rin rolled her eyes.  
"That's why there are two of us, duh."

Then the tables turned.  
Archer phased abruptly into existence right up next to Berserker mid-swing, bow nowhere in sight, and drawing some sort of metal tube from his belt.  
With a snap and a hiss, a blade of blue sprung forth from the tip, and he swung it point blank.

Berserker howled with fury as his arm dropped off and to the ground, bounding away snarling.  
The aura around the limb receeded, then the limb itself faded away to nothing.  
Any celebration to be had at Archer's success was short live though, as Berserker held up his stump, a whirlwind of red surrounding it... and rapidly regenerating the lost limb in a disturbing manner.

But this wasn't what held Shirou's attention.

The moment the limb had begun to regenerate, Rin was on the move, sprinting past Shirou and straight for Berserker's master.  
The girl was smirking victoriously at her servant's display of superiority, when she noticed Rin heading straight for her and let out a startled cry.

Everything happened at once.  
Rin had a fist cocked back to strike the girl, intending on finishing this in one blow, limbs reinforced as much as she'd dare.

The three servants moved at once, all converging on one another in their charge.

The little girl with white hair and red eyes froze up, failing to retreat fast enough as Rin closed the gap and punched out- only to stop inches from impact with her target's skull.

"Stop!"

Ilyasviel von Einzburn's frightened eyes flicked back and forth as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

Shirou had taken a heavy risk and reinforced his legs in order to catch Rin, snatching her arm and holding her back before she could strike the helpless girl before her.

Barely an inch away from Rin's neck was Berserker's clawed hand, frozen in place from his master's barely managed command to "stop", a command that was hastily delivered as she witnessed two things at once.

Shirou stopping Rin from attacking her, despite it being in his best interests to let her be struck down... and both Archer and Saber's weapons being right up against Berserker's eyes, poised to impale through the skull should he move any further.

While she wasn't sure about Saber, the blade that Archer held had already proved capable of piercing Berserker's cloak.

The whole scene was one massive stalemate. But that wasn't what had her mind reeling.

Staring straight at Shirou, she whispered.  
"..Why..?"

Shirou stared back determinedly, and despite searching his eyes for his intentions she still couldn't understand.

Gritting her teeth, the girl made the only call she could make in this situation.  
"Berserker, that's enough." Her servant fell silent and astralized, fading from sight. Archer and Saber lowered their weapons, but stayed on guard, moving to flank their respective masters.

With that, Ilyasviel turned and began to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going? Shirou, let GO!" Rin stomped on Shirou's foot causing him to flinch, but he held her back still.

"That's enough for one day." The girl answered quietly, "I'm bored."  
Pausing briefly, she spoke again. "And big brother?"

It took Shirou a moment to realize she was talking to him, but he didn't get the chance to reply.  
"Remember this. Ilya will be the one to kill you. So don't die until then, ok?"

By the time she was completely out of sight, Shirou had finally managed to process what had just been said.  
"So... Who's Ilya?"

Rin kicked him in the shin. Hard.

* * *

_Servant Profile_

Archer

True Name - **********

Alignment - Lawful Neutral

Base stats:

Strength - C  
Endurance - C  
Agility - B  
Mana - B  
Luck - C

_Class skills_

Independant Action - C  
Magic Resistance - D

_Personal Skills_

Spiritual Awareness*

Licht Regen** - B

Redacted/ High Speed - A+

~Unknown~

*Spiritual Awareness - Archer seems to be capable of detecting foreign spiritual entities from a greater range than usual, even for a ranged servant. He's confident that his skill with this ability is assuredly higher than that of any other servant.

**Licht Regen - One of Archer's more powerful techniques that utilize his bow, it unleashes thousands of lethal arrows instantaneously to converge upon a single target and their general vicinity for an exceedingly accurate attack.

_Noble Phantasm_

Redacted/ Spectral Bow - B

Redacted/ energy blade - A

~Unknown~

* * *

_Chapter Themes_

~In the church~ Fate/Hollow Ataraxia OST - Church of Rubble

~Splitting up~ Fate Stay/Night OST - Eien no Toga

~Calm before the storm~ Fate/Zero OST - Forebodings

~Berserker appears~ Fate/Zero OST - Back to the wall

~Losing battle~ Fairy Tail OST Vol.2 - Evil Earthsound

~Archer intervenes~ Fate/Zero OST - Let the stars fall down

~2 vs 1~ Fairy Tail OST Vol.2 - Time For Fierce Battle

~Berserker's death laser + Archer's Hidden Trump~ Unlimited Blade Works OST - Musubareru Sekai

/Some of these may be a little difficult to find. Good luck.../


	4. Chapter 3

(A/N: Despite being very busy with my novel at the moment, I decided to slap out another chapter, if only to annihilate another chunk of the plot so that I could get back to the awesome parts again. That, and I had fun with this one and the various references within, I really did. So love it or hate it, this one's a bit of a hefty read. But be reassured, the juicy conflicts and even new servants are coming up soon. This one was pumped out in a couple of hours, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. I'm so busy I keep missing meals.)

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following characters, materials or plot, only the creative arrangement of the aforementioned._

_The plot and characters of Fate as well as those of any other series referenced here are the property of their respective owners._

* * *

**Day 2 Part 1**

"What the hell were you thinking?"  
Shirou leaned back, resisting the urge to clamp his hands over his ears to defend from Rin's shrill voice.

Sitting next to him once again was Erza, looking less like she'd just been in a deadly battle and more like she'd just come back from a day shopping, having switched into a casual white blouse with her normal blue skirt. In front of her was a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

Cake which she'd been delighted to find in Shirou's kitchen. In Shirou's house. Which is where they'd somehow ended up... again.

"You're going to have to elaborate on that one." Shirou was as reluctant to face another lecture today as he was to have Rin in his house. Again.

Behind the seething girl stood Archer, not comfortable enough to sit with them, but relaxed enough to remain in the room. Somehow, his white outfit was spotless, despite all the dust and dirt that had been flying about earlier. Shirou wondered if he carried a spare clothes too...

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Rin practically roared, getting right up in his face.  
Absently he noted the boundary field twinging in reaction to a lethal intent, but he ignored it.  
The cause was pretty obvious.

"You're out of my sight for five minutes and you immediately run headlong into not only another servant, but one that you couldn't possibly handle alone!"

Shirou cringed inwardly. That was hardly his fault though, it was more bad luck really.

"You then went ahead to FIGHT said servant despite being outmatched," Shirou actually flinched at this one, "and if that weren't enough you ran straight into their battle without thinking!

If Saber weren't as fast as she was," she shot an approving look at Erza, who simply nodded back, "you could have been a smear on the pavement."

Here, she paused, before glowering at him again.  
"If it were just all that though, I would only be angry at your ineptitude. As it is..."

Shirou suddenly realized what she was getting to as the whole temperature of the room seemed to drop.

"WHY did you stop me from eliminating the enemy master."

A deathly silence descended.

Shirou laughed nervously. "Well, um, it was just a little girl, and you see-"

"That 'little girl' just tried to kill you, not to mention the rest of us. If a master is killed, the servant loses its source of mana and will eventually disappear."

Rin brought a hand up to massage her twitching temple, glaring heatedly at him seemingly in an attempt to turn him to stone.

"So tell me, why did you place the life of your opponent over that of yourself, myself, and by extension both Saber and Archer. Tell me what possible reason you could have had to do something so stupid, because I'm a hair's breadth away from killing you just to save myself the hassle."

Shirou remained silent for a while. No amount of bluster would get him out of this one, and to tell the truth was going to be difficult.

Saying something as shallow as "because it would be wrong" would not placate her now, not now that he had effectively put her in danger too, he knew that.

So he mumbled it.

"What was that?" Rin blinked. "I couldn't hear you, speak up."

He repeated himself.

"Stop mumbling, hurry up and spit it ou-"

"Because letting someone die isn't something a hero would do."

Rin looked flabbergasted. Then she burst out laughing.  
"You can't be serious. For something as shallow as...?"

She stopped altogether when she noticed the look Shirou was giving her. Though embarrassed, he was deadly serious.

"It's not shallow. I want to be a hero of justice. I want to protect everyone."

"You've got to be kidding me. You actually mean that? Is this why you go around helping everyone at school?" Rin spat. "How is sacrificing his allies something a hero would do?"

Shirou winced. "I made a mistake, alright? You tell me what I should have done differently. Tell me what I should have done to ensure everyone survives."

"Shirou, listen to me, it's impossible to save everyone. You should give up this pointless obsession, it's just going to get you killed."

Shirou stubbornly looked away.

"Shirou..." Rin growled in warning. "You-"

"That's enough."

Rin gave a start, as she realized that Erza had interrupted her.

"While I understand your reasoning, I don't agree with the conclusion."

Rin was somewhat derailed by this, while Archer merely looked interested. Shirou blinked in surprise at his unlikely supporter.

"It is true that it is impossible to save everyone." She started.

Shirou sagged in his seat to hear that from a real hero.

"But that does not mean that you should never try."

"Huh?" Shirou sat back up in surprise.

"Where I came from, the world was filled with magic and magic guilds. The number one rule of all registered guilds was not to kill, or let people die. You would have liked it there Shirou." She smiled at the memory.

"But death was not unknown. Death is a natural end to human life, and thus it exists wherever humans do. Natural or not.

Dark guilds were so called because they were illegally formed and followed no such rule, and I myself have lived a life where I saw my important people die before my eyes.

Granted, I was luckier than most. Most of my friends lived long and fulfilling lives. But even they eventually died. Such is the way of things."

Turning serious again, she glared at Rin.

"But I cannot forgive anyone who says that just because they would die anyway, ever saving them was pointless. I myself was saved at a very young age, and I lived a long and amazing life as a direct result.

There's no way that was pointless.

Many times I have failed to save people, but my regret is not that I tried to save them, but that I did not manage to. Given the same choice in the same circumstance, I would try again." She ended fiercely.

Rin looked ready to argue, but seemed to be tripping over any attempt to refute her. Anything she could say back to that was being heavily influenced by the fact that Erza had been summoned as a heroic spirit, and thus had a strong backing for her belief being right.

"She's got a point."

"Wha- Archer? Not you too!" Rin wailed.

"Don't give me that look. I knew plenty of people who thought the same way you two do, but there's a couple of flaws here that need to be addressed."

Turning his eyes on Shirou, his lenses flared, making eye contact awkward for Shirou.

"First is that you need to remember to think smaller scale. One person can only do so much. I think in that respect, one of my comrades had the right idea.

He strived to protect everything before his eyes. Everyone in his reach. You'll only depress yourself if you try to take on everyone's problems."

Shirou awkwardly looked away, not wanting to admit it but knowing there was some truth to what he said.

"The second is more of a problem. You said you want to be a hero of justice, and that's why you want to protect people. That's the wrong way around."

Shirou's head whipped back around so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash.

"If you said that you wanted to protect people, and that's why you wanted to be a hero, then that would mean that you want the power to protect. By saying you want to be a hero, and that's why you want to protect people, that means you want to protect to gain power."

Shirou's eyes went wide as saucers, and even Erza grimaced slightly, shooting him a concerned look.

"That is fundamentally flawed. There's only two reasons for you to have picked this up so wrong. The first is that you're a selfish person. However, from what I've seen that doesn't fit. You don't gain anything from helping people, which is sort of like being stuck in an endless destructive loop."

By now, Shirou looked like someone had shot his puppy, brought it back to life, then shot it again. Repeatedly. In his kitchen.

Even Rin was beginning to look sorry for him.

"The second... is that you got this idea from someone else."

Shirou went rigid.

Archer's eyes narrowed. "That's what I thought. That would explain your determination to achieve it, but lack of understanding of what it entailed."

"Who was it?" Erza asked quietly but curiously. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Shirou felt like a cornered animal, but if they'd come this far...

"It was my dad." He whispered. "It was his dream. But he never achieved it. So I promised I'd do it for him. And then he died."

Despite his expectation of how Rin would react to his admitting to having effectively inherited his ideal, Rin's eyes were now downcast, as though remembering something.

Erza still looked curious, but Archer was more understanding.

"A vow to a deceased relative is indeed important." He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. "But you've got to decide how far to go. Because any caring relative would want you to live your own life."

Rin shifted uncomfortably.

"So let me get this straight." Erza broke in. "You want to be a hero, like your father would have wanted."

"Y-yeah." Shirou mumbled, now thoroughly shaken and heavily embarrassed.

"Well we'd better get to work then. We've got a lot to do, and only the duration of this war in which to do it!"

Erza looked around to see that both magi were staring with wide eyes from her declaration, while Archer actually looked... distracted.

"Archer?"

"It's probably nothing, but... Please continue, I'm going to scout the grounds just in case."

Glancing at his master for affirmation, and with a meaningful look in his eye, he received a snort and a wave in response.

As Archer left, Shirou asked something that had been bothering him.

"Ah, So are you communicating with Archer telepathically, or...?"

Rin rolled her eyes. "The thing about having a proper contract with your servant is that you can communicate with one another without speaking aloud. Clearly you haven't managed this."

Ignoring the obvious jab at his accidental summoning, he asked "then what did you say just now?"

Instead of ignoring the question as he expected her to, she snorted.

"Just that if I was dumb enough to cause trouble here while he was gone, I'd have to use two command seals in one go. One to bring him here, and another to actually help."

"Just as well." Erza said, standing up. "That means there will be no interruptions for our training."

"Now hold up!" Shirou waved his arms frantically, shakily getting to his feet too.

"I don't know how you still have the stamina to keep going tonight, but I for one need to sleep sometime today! Not that there's much time left even for that..."

Erza looked surprised for a moment, before hitting a fist into her hand.

"Ah, yes, of course. I had forgotten you would require sleep. Being a spirit makes these things easy to overlook."

Shirou sweat-dropped. "I don't think that's the reason..."

Shaking himself, he pressed on. "Besides, I have school tomorrow and-"

"School?" Erza interrupted. "I'm not sure it's safe for you to be going to school... though I suppose it's important too."

Rin palmed her face.  
"Shirou, we are not going to school during the war. What if you're attacked while you're there?"

Shirou cringed for what felt like the millionth time. "But Fujimura Sensei..."

Rin waved it off. "You're going to have to work around it. What if you got the students involved because you were there?"

"What if they get involved anyway?"

Archer walked back in, looking annoyed.

"What do you mean by that?" Rin asked worriedly.

Archer frowned, then surprised everyone by sitting down next to Rin.

"That's twice now I think I felt a mana signature die down to almost nothing."

Rin almost fell over in alarm.

"Relax master, not a significant mana signature. I'm picking up on normal people too. As a consequence of paying attention to the broad area around us I'm aware of even slight changes in insignificant sources. It just happens that whatever happened to these two, they wandered out of my range, then back into it at a dangerously low level. I barely noticed it as it is."

"Are you saying they were drained? That's horrible!" Shirou was held back from rushing out to find them by Erza, who looked similarly incensed.

Rin's eyebrows furrowed. "You think it could be a servant's doing?"

"It's hard to say, though a definite possibility. Servants can gain mana from the souls of the living, but this one seems to be taking pains to leave them alive. They'll recover, so calm down." He deadpanned at Shirou.

"Both instances occurred in the north, and despite extending my range by moving a little closer, I didn't find anything. It's likely that whoever it is was already done for the night."

Sighing, he turned back to Rin.

"What I'm getting at, is that if you truly don't want your school to be targeted in any way, you're going to have to do two things.

Keep an eye on it, which is only possible if at least one of you is in attendance, and find and defeat the servant who is preying on people.

Even then you can't be sure they'll be safe, but taking at least this much action is necessary."

Rin nodded slowly. "Alright then. I guess it's time to turn in then, we're not going to get anything else done tonight."

"I agree." Erza replied. "We should sort rooms out and rest up till tomorrow. Archer and I will take turns keeping watch."

"There is no need." Archer said, "my sensory ability is more proficient, and my proper connection combined with a personal skill affords me a constant supply of mana. I have less need for sleep.

You however," he said, looking pointedly at Erza, "have used a chunk of your mana and have not been regaining any. And until we can remedy that, it is best you regulate what you have left."

"You didn't tell me that..." Shirou breathed.

Erza shrugged. "I apologize, but it was not something that bothered me. But I suppose you are right Archer, very well then."

"Wait..." Shirou paused, suddenly suspicious. "Why is Archer staying here if-"

He stared at Rin, then at Archer, then at Rin again. They both had deadpan expressions.

"Now hold on, no way, you can't-!"

"So where are the guest rooms Saber?" Rin queried.

"Over here I think," Saber led the pair out and into the hallway, leaving Shirou stood there gaping in shock.

"I- it- they- gah!"

Finally giving up, the insanity of the day piling up on his fatigue, Shirou slumped to his room, not bothering to tell Erza that she was going the wrong way.

* * *

In the morning, Shirou woke to the sound of his alarm clock ringing.

Groaning, he rolled over and smacked the button to turn it off.

With a rush of memory, he confirmed that he was in fact awake, and that yesterday had not been a dream. The bruise on his arm from where he'd hit the ground when thrown proved that much.

Turning back onto his face and lamenting that he couldn't sleep any longer...

Wait, why couldn't he sleep any longer? That's right, because Sakura would soon be here to-

Shirou sat bolt upright. Sakura. He'd forgotten she and Fujimura would be here in the morning!

He'd have to quickly get the other three out to hide, or out of the house or something. It was a good thing his alarm clock had woken him up on time, or he would have.

Hold up.

"I... don't own an alarm clock." Stiffly he turned to stare at the alarm clock in confusion. A bright pink clock with familiar ornate decorative wings.

Beside him, a figure rolled over into his side, breathing quietly, red hair splayed out.

Shirou screamed.

* * *

"And that's why you've got to stay out of sight this morning." Shirou finished.

Rin, looking for the life of her like a zombie, yawned gracelessly, scratching her head and rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"Yeah, that's great Shirou, but why do you look like someone explained the birds and the bees to you?" She ground out, clearly not happy at being woken up, much less by a crimson faced and near hyperventilating Shirou.

She knew she didn't look all that great in the mornings, but somehow she doubted it was this bad.

And then Erza walked out of Shirou's room, clad in pink pyjamas with a pattern of crosses on them, stretching smoothly and heading straight for the bathroom.

Rin's hackles went up.

* * *

"What happened to you?" Archer asked, as Shirou trudged into the kitchen sporting a black eye.

"Don't ask..." Shirou grumbled, muttering something about crazy women.

Archer shrugged, taking an apple. "You don't mind if I have this, do you?"

"Knock yourself out." Shirou replied, setting about preparing the ingredients for breakfast.

Archer nodded, taking a bite and walking past him.

"Oh, by the way. Rin has just told me we need to be out of the way this morning, so we're going out to do a bit of scouting, then we'll head to your school. Feel free to join us if you're up for it, or we can always take it in turns to give more time for training."

"Yeah, thanks." Shirou responded, slowly regaining his enthusiasm. "Saber will probably prefer it that way."

At the mention of his servant, he went scarlet again and clammed up. By the time he'd unstuck his jaw, Archer was already gone.

Walking back into the living room, about to tell Saber that she should probably head back to bed for a while (preferably a different bed...), he froze mid step.

There on one side of the table sat Erza, staring with surprise at the third occupant of the room.

Violet haired Sakura Matou stood stock still at the sight of another girl in her sempai's house.

Her whole world came crashing down around her ears, and she couldn't even manage a squeak, one hand clamped over her mouth in shock.

Shirou floundered, but it was Erza who spoke up first.

"Hi there, who might you be?" She asked cheerfully, flashing a genuine smile.

Shirou nearly swore. It had to be illegal to be that chipper in the morning...

"Ah, Sakura." He finally managed. "This is..."

"Erza. Erza Scarlet." She leaned over the table and outstretched a hand to shake.

For a moment, it looked like Sakura was going to remain still, but then she shakily moved forward and shook her hand.  
"Sakura Matou." She murmured.

For a moment, Erza thought she felt something draining her mana, but then the moment passed, and she shrugged it off.

Sakura on the other hand looked like she had come to a conclusion, and both looked relieved and simultaneously even more on edge.

"Nice to meet you Sakura. How do you know Shirou?"

Sakura inwardly seethed at how familiar this girl was being with her sempai, but maintained her façade carefully.

"I'm sempai's underclassman. I help him cook sometimes. How do you know sempai?" She returned, somewhat unnerved by Erza's calculating but cheerful look.

Before Erza could spout a blatant lie and ruin their cover, Shirou stepped in. "Erza is a family friend of my father's actually, from abroad. She's staying here for a little while on business before she moves on. I offered to let her stay here in the meantime."

"I see." Sakura replied, looking unconvinced.

Before any more could be said, a proverbial hurricane swept in.  
"SHIIIIIROOOOOUUUUU!"

Taiga Fujimura burst into the living room like a wild animal.

"I'm starving, where's breakfast?" She roared.

Shirou groaned, but as he turned towards the kitchen, all hell broke lose.

"Who is this?" Taiga and Erza pointed simultaneously.

"Sempai what happened to your face?" Sakura panicked.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Somehow, Shirou managed to straighten everything out with Sakura and Taiga.

Though somehow he doubted the "I fell on a rock" excuse for his black eye was believable. They both looked like they'd come to the conclusion that he was being bullied, and that Erza might be the culprit.

Thankfully, Erza's demeanour combined with her own confusion at his newly acquired shiner meant that they had concluded that she was not responsible. God help him if they ever found out who was.

On the flip side, Taiga was reluctant to let him go to school looking like he'd been beaten up, but just as reluctant to leave him on his own.

Erza had countered that he was perfectly safe with her, to which Taiga took offence and challenged her to a duel in the dojo with bokken.

That... hadn't ended well.

Although Erza was obviously holding back tremendously, even complimenting taiga on her form and strength, the difference was overwhelmingly obvious, and within a few rounds of Erza casually disarming her opponent without hurting her, Taiga had thrown a strop, crying profusely about how Shirou was being stolen from her.

It took a while to calm her down, but thankfully a combination of food and how late she was got her moving in the end, leaving Shirou strict instruction to remain home and rest. Sakura chose this time to bow out too, insisting she would be back later that evening to check on him.

* * *

Despite their concerns, as soon as they left Erza changed. Immediately in her basic armour, which she explained was her "Heart Kruz" custom made armour, she proceeded to run Shirou ragged with basic exercises and sparring.

"Come on, try again!"

Shirou grunted and swung the bokken at Erza only for it to be deflected easily and to be struck on the head.

Stumbling back clutching at his cranium, he decided he'd had enough.

"Erza, this isn't going to work. I'm nowhere near close enough to your level for this kind of training to help."

"On the contrary." Erza spoke up, her bokken conspicuously vanishing from sight. "It's already helping. Now I have a good grasp of your level, and you understand what is expected of you. If you can't even defend yourself against one opponent, you'll struggle to protect anyone else."

Shirou went quiet again, looking thoughtful.

"In order to protect people, you must first be capable of preserving yourself. Because if all you can manage is a heroic sacrifice, then you can only save people once. And usually, not for very long either. Understanding self defence is paramount. Do you understand?"

Shirou nodded. "I get it. But how am I supposed to progress fast enough to be of any use at all in the time available to us?"

"Don't worry so much about progress as much as understanding the basics. A good grasp of the basics will lay the foundation for progress as necessary."

Sitting cross legged on the floor, she waved him over to join her. As he did so, she pointed at him.

"So here comes the important part. You," she jabbed him lightly in the chest, "are a mage."

"Not a very good one," he groused.

"But you are a mage nevertheless." She maintained. I'm sure you've noticed, but I am also a mage."

Blinking repeatedly, a look of comprehension dawned on his face.

"Oh, so that's how you're able to switch magic armour like that!"

Erza looked disapproving. "You didn't notice? Detecting magic use is a pretty basic skill..."

Shirou stared back blankly, so she groaned in frustration.

"I see we're going to have to start from the beginning then..."

Grasping Shirou by the shoulders, she declared. "I may not be the ideal person to do so, but I am going to teach you magic."

* * *

Elsewhere, in a castle surrounded by forest, Ilyasviel Von Einzburn paced restlessly.

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't make head or tail of Shirou Emiya's actions.

And all these servants... she'd seen their skills and classes, yet there was still no clue as to their identities.

It was bad enough that her own servant was an anomaly, and certainly not the mighty Heracles she'd been aiming for, but she could only handle so much confusion before she snapped.

Pushing all unnecessary thoughts about the war out of her head, she focused on her target.

Emiya Shirou did not know who she was. Of that, she was certain.

But why? Surely Kiritsugu would have warned him about the Einzburns. But he hadn't reacted at all to her name.

Maybe it was just a façade, but if that weren't confusing enough he'd then stepped in to stop the Tohsaka heir, his ally in the fight, from striking her.

Sure, there was a chance Berserker could have done so himself, but with two servants bearing down on him like that, there was a chance that neither of them would have survived, which was very much in Shirou's favour in the war.

Yet he'd stopped her.

Halting, Ilya snarled. She wanted to break something. Her big brother wasn't turning out to be a very good target for her vengeance.

Dealing with him could wait till later, when she had a clear head.

"Leysritt." She barked at her maid, "I'm going out. Berserker, let's go."

If the maid had intended any objection to Ilya's behaviour, her voice was immediately drowned out by the feral growl and resounding bang of Berserker materializing and slamming the door open, master and servant marching out into the daylight.

* * *

_Servant Profile_

Berserker

True Name - **************

Alignment - Chaotic Evil

Base stats:

Strength - A  
Endurance - A  
Agility - A  
Mana - A  
Luck - A

_Class skills_

Mad Enhancement - C~A (variable)

_Personal Skills_

Monstrous Strength - C~A

Redacted/Mana Beam - A+ Anti Fortress

~Unknown~

_Noble Phantasm_

Redacted/Crimson Cloak - C~A

~Unknown~

(Note: Most of Berserker's skills are variable, and are directly proportional to how much power he is drawing on at any one time. Drawing on more mana results in an increase in Mad Enhancement, and thus an increase in other effected skills.)

* * *

_Chapter Themes_

_(I was actually going to restrict the themes to the series of characters that have already been revealed... but seeing as how anyone who searched for these themes is probably just as likely to either a) already know who's who, b) have searched who's who, or c) not know the significance anyway, I changed my mind. That gives me a much broader pool to draw from. Enjoy.)_

~Explanations~ Bleach OST - Nothing Can be Explained (instrumental)

~Erza interrupts~ Fairy Tail OST - Inishie no Mahou

~Archer's analysis~ Bleach OST - Soundscape to Ardor

~Moving on~ Fate OST - Eien no Toga

~Wake-up call~ Bleach OST - Oh so Tired

~Good Morning... Sort of~ Bleach OST - Head in the Clouds

~Chaos~ Bleach OST - Ditty for Daddy

~Training~ Fairy Tail OST - Slow Theme

~Seething White~ Fate Zero OST - The Berserker


End file.
